Ok, I know what you’re thinking: Yeah, Paul, everyone says that every New Year and they go right on doing the same things they did last year. And I would say you’re right on with that and the key is …they keep doing the same thing year after year and expect a different result. According to Albert Einstein, that’s the definition of Insanity! Sound familiar? You might even say this is you?

I work with numerous Realtors and Investors and the one overriding theme I keep hearing is the economy is so bad and there’s no money and no one is buying anything. The only problem with that is it’s not true. Yes, finding financing is harder but homes are being bought with bank financing. Investors are buying homes with investor loans. And Realtors are selling homes! Just check those facts with the National Association of Realtors.

I know one investor in my REIA group who has bought 20 properties this year, fixed them up and sold every one with bank financing. Other investors have bought homes with bank financing with 30% down. I have bought 2 homes in the last 4 months with bank financing.

As for Realtors, I am working with one husband and wife team on their marketing program. They had sold a home to a couple from Philadelphia and within 3 weeks they sold another home to a friend of the first sale. So we put together a 3 step mailer to people in their area along with an 800 number to call for more information. They sent out info on the area and as I am writing this they have sold 6 more houses.

Now they are doing the same marketing plan to the surrounding areas and are getting great results. Other agents I know are marketing to the Midwest about all the great deals in Southwest Florida.

I am working on a multi-level marketing program with web sites and a multi-step marketing campaign to California telling people how great it is in Florida: great weather, no income tax, and some of the most beautiful beaches anywhere. I’m using the same program ‘selling’ the Atlanta area.

I also have 5 education seminars scheduled for myself this year. If you plan on succeeding you must keep learning. How many education events have you already scheduled? You should plan at least one on marketing.

The way I see it, everyone has 2 choices: do the same thing as last year then sit around and complain that all the dark forces are against them, or decide to change their mindset and business plans. 2011 depends more on you than any outside factors. I encourage you to look at the things that worked well for you in 2010 and do it again, and to always look for new opportunities to succeed.

Change the people you hang around with if they are negative and surround yourself with positive forward thinkers.

I am available for one on one coaching and help with your marketing. And I will be doing a couple of master mind programs again this year. Call me at 941-716-2597 for more information.

Good Luck and make 2011 your best year yet!! 

1181 South Sumter Blvd Suite 301                      

North Port, Florida 34287                                                          

941-716-2597                                                                            

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: agent, albert einstein, Association, Atlanta, atlanta area, bank, bank financing, beaches, business, BUYING, California, coach, coaching, cost, courage, deal, definition of insanity, economy, education, educator, Florida, Georgia, GOOD, great deals, hearing, home, homes, HOUSE, houses, husband and wife, income, income tax, information, Insanity, investor, investor loans, investors, IRS, Licensed, loans, market, marketing, marketing campaign, marketing plan, marketing program, master mind, midwest, money, multi level marketing, National, national association of realtors, national speaker, new year, pauljdacosta, people, Philadelphia, Port, problem, real, Real Estate, real estate investor, Realtor, realtors, REIA, rent, sale, sellingâ, site, sold, South Sumter, southwest florida, Tax, weather

This weekend I held another “Real Estate For The Next Decade” education day in Atlanta. We had a packed house of Realtors and investors. Guest speakers included experts in Real Estate Law, Taxation, and using self directed IRA’s in Real Estate. We also heard from a mortgage specialist from Bank Of America talking about the FHA Rehab loan. I spent time on exit strategies and my Three Tier System on property location, as well as on marketing.

All the attendees agreed that the information definitely pertained to their business, and said they really wanted to start using it. But the overriding complaint from the members was, “I’m so tired now and don’t have time to do things I need to do, how on earth can I do this stuff as well??” After hearing about 10 people say the same thing I knew too many of them were working in their business and not on it.

So I started asking the group some questions and we (speakers) were all were surprised at how many of these people were doing everything in their business. To give you an example: out of 32 Real Estate investors only 2 were using a property management company. The biggest concern for the rest was the cost of using a company, and of having someone other than themselves or their own people handle the repairs. I explained to the group that those costs were minimal if you just consider the costs involved in answering all those phone calls about exploding toilets or broken windows, then doing the repair job yourself. This is working in your business. I asked how many people needed money to buy more homes. They all raised their hands. Well, you can’t raise money if you’re fixing toilets. Raising money is working on your business.

Let’s handle the issues of cost.  All said the property managers’ fees were too high. Most property managers charge 8% of the rent so if you have a rent at $ 650 their fee is $ 52.00. This is nothing in the big picture of your business. They handle all the calls and the issues with tenants who don’t pay. You can negotiate that they also handle all evictions at their cost, and I do this. If you’re doing it, how much does it cost you in hard cash, not to mention your time and that’s worth a lot. And in most states you have to go in front of a judge. They look at property managers as just doing their job but an investor is seen as just a greedy slumlord trying to throw this poor person out just because they did not pay rent. Some get all self righteous and benevolent, and tell the tenant they can have 60 days to move out and there’s nothing you as the corrupt landlord can do about it. Yep, they do it and you know it’s true. So now did you save yourself any money?  Nope, just gave yourself more aggravation. And how can you take time to go to court if you have to answer the phone all the time?

Most of the investors thought you must use the property management fee schedule or else. I explained that’s not true and you can set your fees by the number of properties they handle for you. Also if you use a handy man you can have the property manager call that person first. In case of emergencies if your guy doesn’t answer then they can call their guy.

Some of the Realtors felt they could not work any harder and adding more would send them over the top. Their biggest hurdle was paperwork. They said they spent hours for each listing and sale. I then asked if they had someone in their office whom they could pay to handle that for them. Most said yes but did not want to pay the $ 295.00 fee. I asked them how much was their time worth per hour and what the value of a customer was. None could answer these questions. I also asked them if they had to pay the person up front or when the property sells? They all said when it sells. With this information we figured out an option where they might work a deal with the person for a professional discount, if they gave this person all their business. And if they don’t have to pay until the property closes it won’t affect the cash flow now. How many more listings or sales could they get if they were working on their business not in it?

And the last thing that was a complete surprise to me: most do their own taxes! I was stunned! One investor had 30 houses and does his own taxes because he said his accountant charges $ 1000.00 to do them and he thought that was outrageous. I was laughing because I thought he was too cheap! Imagine having 30 rentals with all those deductions and IRS tax laws and loopholes. He’s complaining about a $ 1000.00:  GOD help him if he gets audited!  Folks, there are many things you can skimp on. But for your business to be successful you have to do what you do best- work ON it, not IN it. There are many people who can handle paperwork, reception duties, repair duties, taxes. But only YOU know what it takes to make YOUR business go where you want it.

  1181 South Sumter Blvd Suite 301                       695 Mansell Road – Suite 120

                North Port, Florida 34287                                                           Roswell, GA  30076

                 941-716-2597                                                                             678-287-4800

 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

 

Tags: accountant, America, Atlanta, attendees, bank, bank of america, big picture, broken windows, business, CASH, cost, customer, deal, Decade, discount, education, example, exit, exit strategies, fha, Georgia, GROUP, guest speakers, hearing, home, HOUSE, houses, information, investor, investors, IRA, IRAâ, IRS, job, judge, landlord, Law, Letâ, Licensed, Management, manager, market, marketing, money, mortgage, mortgage specialist, national speaker, next decade, people, person, phone calls, professional, Property, property location, property management company, property managers, raising money, rate, real, Real Estate, real estate investor, real estate investors, Realtor, realtors, rehab, rehab loan, rent, rental, repair, repair job, sale, self directed ira, slumlord, Tax, taxation, taxes, tier system, time, toilets, value

 

 

Real Estate is my full time occupation. I run my business like the big corporations do:  I have a full time Accountant and a Lawyer whom I consult with on a regular basis. I have a Productivity Coach though my Keller Williams office who helps me keep on track and make sure my goals are realistic and attainable.  I depend on experts in these fields to help me become an expert in my own field.

Working with Realtors and Investors from all over the world I find that we naturally move to only associate with members of our own profession and talk about issues that only relate to our industry.  While this may be comfortable, it won’t allow you to grow either yourself or your business to its maximum potential. This is the limitation of an in-house mastermind group. 

If a realtor even knows what a mastermind group is, most likely they belong to one sponsored by their office. My office has a group that is run by our productivity coach. She does a great job, but all the participants are realtors. There may only be 4 or 5 who attend and they are not committed to the group because it’s FREE and there are no other obligations.

This is why, for the serious career person, I highly recommend joining an outside group that has a mix of businesses. Generally you must commit for a year and the cost can run from a few hundred dollars to several thousand. This depends on the group, what its goals are and how many days the sessions run.

I belong to 3 mastermind groups. The group I run requires members to commit for 6 months at $ 300.00/month .Sessions are held once a month for 10 hours. Currently the participants range from a local doctor to a pest control service owner who catches raccoons for a living. It is limited to 6 people so each person has plenty of time to tell us about their business progress from the last time we met:  what’s working, what’s not, and did they do what they said they were going to do at the last meeting. Oh, by the way, this is a tough love group: members have to follow through with what they say they’ll do or be prepared to catch hell.

One of the other groups I belong to meets for 3 full days from 8 AM to 10 PM three times a year. We commit for 1year and pay the moderator SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS. I might add that the moderator is one of the country’s most sought after business coaches. We have 16 people in this group. Occupations vary from doctors and dentists to realtors to an auto repair shop owner to internet marketers. Some of these businesses are making millions a year (and 2 do over 50 million each!) so we are diverse. And, though all have different issues that need to be handled, all have the same goals: 1) have more free time 2) make more money 3) retire.

The big advantage of this group is all the experience of the other participants on all issues that may affect my business. As an example, one member has over 100 employees so he always has challenges and can give good feedback on how to hire and deal with employees. Another member deals with consultants and directly with the public and has the same issues as Realtors do:  people not making appointments, people not understanding the market place, competitors undercutting the price or flat out not being honest. See, Realtors are not the only ones facing these problems. Members get to learn from these people and how they are doing it in their business. Many times group members can move these ideas to their own businesses with only a few tweaks.

 I know that you’re thinking Real Estate is different from healthcare, or manufacturing, but I’m here to tell you it’s not. We all face the same problems: how do I get someone to pay for a house I have listed or how do I get the seller to take my buyers offer. In the end we are still selling something regardless of what it is. And I hear all the time “we can’t get financing for our houses”. Well guess what, we’re not alone. The owner of the 60 million dollar /year business lost his line of credit for no reason other than the banker telling him it’s the economy and there’s nothing they can do for him. And this with a twenty year track record of excellent payments. Sounds like our business.

When he told us how he was able to find some financing, we all worked to give him other ideas. We all help each other on marketing and our marketing pieces. We make commitments to each other and we hold each other accountable: if you don’t meet those commitments there are consequences. And there are other perks that can’t be assigned a monetary value.  You build great friendships. Your career network expands. In my case some of these people have recommend me to their circle of influence. I have had the privilege to speak to their groups and in some cases actually find investors. But the knowledge and help implementing systems and programs to help make my business better and more profitable is PRICELESS.  

If you would like more info on mastermind groups, getting into one or starting your own call me at 941-716-2597.

 

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

        Real Estate Education       paul@pauljdacosta.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: bank, bankers, business, business people, coach, consulant, GROUP, lending, manufactoring, marketing, master mind, master mind groups, mastermind, mastermind group, money, people, private money, productivity coach, real, Realtor, realtors, retire

 …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

“HOUSING MARKET STUMBLES”

I love it when I read these types of headlines. I always get a chuckle and say “So, what did you expect?” The $ 8,000 home buyer credit was not renewed. FHA, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have tightened lending requirements. The “BIG BANKS” are imposing their own ridiculous rules on top of the government rules. And you expect the housing market to thrive. To quote a cartoon character, “DOH!”

Here are some of the particulars in the story: The U.S. Census Bureau reports single family housing starts in June fell by 0.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 454,000. The U.S. started 1.47 million in 2006 before the bubble burst. The article goes on to claim that a variety of factors have led to a flagging confidence including a sluggish labor market, global turmoil and falling stock prices.

I find it amazing that these so called experts in Washington and New York are clueless as to why we are in trouble on all fronts. Let’s take the labor market. I’m no economist or Harvard scholar but I can sure figure out why the job market is in such turmoil. How about the constant barrage of criticism, rules and regulations that keep CEO and the local business owners guessing “what’s next”

Over the past 4 years the auto industry, banking, financial, and insurance industries have been terrorized by Washington and special interest groups. They have to explain everything from CEO pay to why they’re not being green enough for the environmental groups.

Don’t get me wrong, Wall Street and the banking sector went on a GREED spree like none in history. But with that said, all of the banking and financial sectors have been placed under government rule with all kinds of draconian regulations that have stifled creativity and confidence. Washington has taken their typical reactive and not proactive stance.

Now let’s take business, especially big business. They have tax incentives to take jobs overseas. Does it make sense to anyone for businesses to be laying off people here and exporting jobs elsewhere? Obviously it makes good business sense. The biggest complaint is that taxes overseas are better than and not as high as the U.S. This might be the case but I have seen some reports that show most major companies pay very little federal income tax and most get a major credit. So, is it really taxes, or could it be something else? Cheap labor in some third world country may make the quarterly P and L look good for stock holders but eventually that catches up to you when no one here has any money to buy your product.

Global economic turmoil and falling stock prices are all a factor of Governments around the world becoming so big and cumbersome they stifle growth. In some countries the retirement age is 55 and then people live off the government dole for the rest of their lives.Tax rates in some countries are in the 80% range to pay for all the government social programs and an ever increasing portion of the population doesn’t pay taxes at all (sound familiar?). And you wonder why Europe is on the verge of collapse. Is this a model we want to follow??

Back here in the US all we hear from our leaders is negativity. Words matter and you have to understand they say them more for political reasons. A scared population is a compliant one that will agree with your political ideas. And this has worked well: think 9-11, war in Iraq, TARP Stimulus 1 2 or 3 (I forgot, they keep adding them on), saving GM ‘for America’, and the list could go on. In all of these events our leaders increased the fear factor to new heights making people believe if they did not go along all hell was going to break loose and we would all be out on the streets. Americans and most of Europe are paralyzed with fear escalated by our elected leaders. The job market and the housing market won’t turn around till Main Street starts to feel good about its future.   

So what does this mean for Real Estate investors? You need to pick your markets very carefully. The criteria I use is my Three Tier marketing system which was published in my September 2009 newsletter. Here is the link:  http://http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs050/1101755221758/archive/1102703583402.html.

The best markets may not be where you are investing now. For example Florida, my home state, is very anti business. The Government seems to go out of its way to discourage business from moving here. They want tourism, service jobs and retirees. That is living in the past. We need high paying good quality jobs if Florida is to survive and thrive in the market place.

On the other hand, just to our north, Georgia is grabbing every job that brings in good pay, health care and is a asset to the community and the State. Companies from all over the world are signing lease contracts and purchase contracts and plan to hire tens of thousands of Georgians. Both states have housing problems and job losses but one is being proactive and the other is sitting on South Beach having a cold one and taking in the sights!!!Which state will improve faster?

All over the country this is being repeated, with some states fighting for every job while others are living in the past. There have been a number of articles in national publications that more and more companies and people are moving to Southern and Mid Western States. Don’t believe it’s because of the weather. Northern States and Western States are still living in the 50’s and 60’s mentally when government was supposed to know what was best for the people and the business community. They are all super high tax states and still not able to see what their problems are. They are all on the verge of bankruptcy   and they blame everyone but themselves. Think California, New York, New Jersey and any one of the New England states. So as an investor you must really do your homework before you invest in an area especially if you are not from that area. What was a good bet in the past might not be safe any longer.

Due diligence is more important they ever. Take the extra time on this part of your Real Estate business and big profits will come your way. Because the rest of the world is scared to death and can’t or won’t make decisions so profits are there for the taking. You just need to have courage to go where others are afraid to. 

                              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

http://www.pauljdacosta.com

mailto:paul@pauljdacosta.com

 

 

Tags: auto industry, bank, banking sector, banks, buyer, buyer credit, cartoon character, contract, fannie mae, fha, financial sectors, freddie mac, global turmoil, GOOD, government rule, government rules, harvard scholar, home, Housing, housing market, income, insurance, insurance industries, interest, investors, IRA, market, money, profits, rate, real, Real Estate, real estate investor, Realtor, retirement, ridiculous rules, special interest groups, STILL, stock prices, Tax, taxes, time, Turn, u s census, u s census bureau, wall street

There has been a lot of talk from Washington and Wall Street about the continuing housing slump and foreclosure problems. The lament is about how to get the foreclosure rates down and housing moving again. Some say the

$ 8,000.00 first time home buyers credit was a bust.  But consider this:  every house that was sold with the $ 8,000.00 credit was a success because someone just became a homeowner for the first time. Realtors, closing agents, home inspectors, lenders and a host of other people collected a pay check for that one sale.

Washington keeps saying that banks must make funds available to lend. Banks say they are doing just that, and point to all the houses that are reported as sold from the National Association of Realtors and other data collecting agencies. While it’s technically true that there are loans being made, there are not enough to make the impact needed in the market to really get it moving in the right direction. So here is what I feel what must happen if this market is to get moving for real.

1) Congress and the President, as well as the private sector, must stop talking about creating jobs and actually work together to create them. Just as important, they must keep jobs from going elsewhere. Don’t worry I’m not going to get political on you. I’ll leave that to people who have nothing else to amuse them.

American business has to start looking at the long term business plans not just the next quarter.

(Wall Street created this monster) The CEO’s can only care about the next quarter earnings and being a Wall Street favorite. So they sacrifice quality and service, looking for the cheapest labor they can find and cutting corners. This way they hit their numbers, Wall Street is happy, the CEO is considered a genius and the cycle starts all over again. But what really happens is every time people here are laid off, and the jobs are outsourced to a country with fewer regulations and lower wages, it limits the number of people who can afford their product here. It’s a vicious circle.

Now our leaders in Washington have to take as much blame for this as the CEO’s because they make it hard to do business in America. They have so many overlapping regulations and laws it’s impossible to keep track of them. Hiring regulations and tax laws change all the time and each government agency has its own set of requirements. It’s hard to plan your future if the rules changes daily. Fear of lawsuits is a big and costly issue. Employee and consumer safety must be prime considerations, but frivolous and outright stupid lawsuits must be stopped.

 I know the Government and Private sector can work together to solve this and many more issues. The economy will not get better if people don’t have jobs or feel their job is next to be eliminated.  Spending will not increase as these people will either not have the income, or will hold on to what they do have, just in case.

2) Banks and other agencies must give us a true picture on the actual number of homes that have been foreclosed on and that are behind on payments. The number of homes that are reported and the numbers of homes that are on the market are not even close. Conventional wisdom says that there is a big ‘shadow inventory’ out there that nobody wants to talk about. This is flat out wrong.  But until people have a clear picture of the problem how do we know how to fix it? And Government alone is not capable of changing this perception. Until this is revealed people will not feel comfortable making any decisions and will take a wait- and-see approach.

3) Finally the housing market is not going to improve if the banking and the financing industries continue to refuse to work with the small investor. A large number of the foreclosed homes are in complete disarray and are unable to be sold to an end user. So this only leaves the investor class to pick up these properties and make them usable. But banks and other agencies have put so many hurdles in the way of small investors it’s hard to get a deal done. Private cash is available but harder to raise because of the reasons stated above. FHA with the 90 day rules and 180 day rules makes it almost impossible to fix a house up and sell it to an end user quickly. These rules don’t help home buyers at all, but somebody in Washington feels that they have the right to dictate how much money an investor can make. And the banks add their own set of rules on top of the Government. Some of the big banks won’t even loan money on a house that the owner has owned for less than 90 days. And others dictate how much profit investors can make for up to 6 months. (These rules, however, don’t apply to the banks themselves)

It’s the small investor who will restart the housing market, not the big institutional investor who buys 500 homes at a time ( and who, by the way, still needs to sell to someone)  The small investor is the key to the whole recovery. Banks and the government need to work together to allow the small investor to buy homes and fix them up and sell them or keep them for their rental portfolio.

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

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And It Doesn’t Matter Whether You’re a Real Estate Investor or a Realtor…

Every now and then a member of my Real Estate Group asks this question: Is doing an open house more profitable when you do it as a licensed Realtor? I do open houses both as a Realtor, and as an investor in states where I don’t hold a license and my answer is:

I do both types the same way, no changes, and I always get traffic!!!

 

First, you must plan your open house at least 5 weeks in advance. This is not the time to do spur-of-the-moment things hoping for traffic. You must plan in order to generate traffic. I always do the following before I even schedule the date.

Here are 6 things I ALWAYS include to make my Open House work:

®    If your house is listed ask your realtor to supply you with the names and complete addresses (including e-mail and phone numbers) for all the realtors who have sold at least one home in your zip code or within 3 miles of your property (if the neighborhoods are similar). Then ask your realtor to break down the list to find agents who have sold 2 or more homes. Don’t worry, in most cases it is not more than 10 to 15% of list. My recent list had 235 realtors and only 28 had sold more than 2 homes.

 

®    I know what you’re thinking: I’m not a Realtor and don’t have access to the MLS. I am licensed in Georgia only, but have property in 6 States. If you have your properties listed your realtor can supply the info. If you’re selling them yourself just ask a Realtor to get the information for you. When I do it this way I pay $ 10.00 per hour. It takes about 8 to 10 hours depending on the size of your area and number of sales. This will be a very targeted list as all names will have sold homes in your area. And if you have ever bought a list from a names broker you’ll know this is a low price.

 

 

®    After I have the names I sort them into in two groups (2 saIes, more than 2 sales). Then I do the following: The large list I send to Handy Mailing (Call Julie at 316-944-2231; she handles most of my printing and mailing needs). I also send her the flyer I had made for my property. She prints and sends them to the names on the list so they arrive about 7 to 10 days before the open house. Then I have my web guru (Steve Tickner 941-228-7810) upload all the e-mail addresses into my web server. I send them emails at the following times: 2 weeks out; 10 days; 7 days; 5 days; 3 days; day before; and the day of the open house. I have the Realtor e-mail the flyer to their office and contact lists. I also upload the flyer to my social networking sites (like Yahoo and Face book) to let everyone know about my open house.

 

®    Now for the small list: this is the list of realtors who have multiple sales in your market. I have a 3 page sales letter I send telling them the reason I’m contacting them is that I know they are among the top sales people in the area and I want them to see my houses and bring me a contract. I offer the buyer a few bonuses such as $ 2,000 in closing costs and a home warranty. For the agent I offer them 4% commission and $ 100.00 gas card. Along with the letter I have mock checks showing them what the commission would be and a DVD of the house. (I have a DVD made of each house; cost is $ 99.00). The video company I use puts the DVD up on their web site with its own URL, so I go to Go Daddy and buy the domain name for my property. I always use the street address.

 

www.3021delmonicodrive.com

www.2880belvederelane.com

 

(The URL’s also go on all my E-mails and social media sites). I send this packet to the top agents so they get it between 7 and 10 days before the open house. Remember, they are also receiving the Emails as well. Right before the scheduled date, I call each one of the top Realtors to see if they got the letter and answer any questions they might have. I personally ask them to please show and sell my home.

 

®    Another media type I make use of is the local paper. Most of the areas I have homes in have a number of papers, and I usually choose 2. I include the number of bedrooms, baths, address, open house hours and the web site address. I also buy extra 3 lines on top and 3 extra lines on the bottom and bold the whole add. This way it’s bigger than all the other ads and stands out.

 

®     And the final thing I do is put out signs. I use a combination of hand-written and pre-printed. I like to use the arrow open house signs that are pre-printed as they stand out better and the ‘sign police’ leave them alone. I usually put the signs out late Friday; you need to do what is best for your area. I also display a 4 x5 banner on the house on Wednesday before the open house date.

 

These actions and your advance planning will drive traffic to your open houses, whether you are a Realtor or an investor.

 

 

 

                                

 

 

 

 1181 South Sumter Blvd suite 301 North Port Florida 34287 941-716-2597

695 Mansell Road Suite 120 Roswell Georgia 30076 678-287-4800

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

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