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Archive for the ‘Building A Team’ Category

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Money and time have a few things in common. Both are required to be successful in real estate, but everyone’s personal supply of both has its limits. Fortunately, you can use OPT (Other People’s Time) in real estate just as you can use OPM (Other People’s Money) in order to do more deals and avoid being a slave to your business.

When we hear about real estate deals that don’t require any money, it usually means that money is needed to do the deals, but that money comes from private lenders, from the sellers, or from buyers. Money makes the world go ‘round, and it’s almost always necessary to use at least a little bit in order to buy and sell a house retail (not wholesaling), unless you are particularly skilled at finding houses in perfect condition and matching them with a ready, willing, and able owner-occupant buyer and having a simultaneous closing.

But again, when you do have to use money for deals (catching up payments, paying the seller, repairs, closing costs, monthly payments, and advertising costs) it doesn’t have to come from your hard-earned savings. You can use OPM from a private lender or partner.

Using other people’s time is the same way, in fact even more so. If you think you have a short supply of money, you have an even shorter supply of time. Time is something that you can’t make any more of. It is the one thing that broke people and multi-millionaires alike gripe about not having enough of. There is a maximum number of hours you are able to work week after week before you get ill, shut down, or go crazy. And the number of hours you desire to work each week is probably much, much smaller than that.

But being a real estate entrepreneur requires time spent. Although the time spent is a heck of a lot less if you’re smart and don’t do things like doing repairs yourself, I’ve yet to find an investor that doesn’t have to put in at least a few hours per week to do deals, or at least supervise the process. If you have a full-time job somewhere else, even a few extra hours per week spent on real estate can be a major nuisance to your family. And, as I’ve learned from networking with investors over the years, they usually spend much more time on real estate each week than a few hours driving around with their cell phones glued to their ears, forever talking, talking, talking.

So what is the solution? Many investors wish they could get rid of their full-time jobs so they would have more time to pursue real estate deals. That is one way of increasing the hours that you have available. But, I guarantee you that nine times out of ten, the investors who do this end up working almost as much as they used to, with most of their new-found time spent finding new ways to be busy. The human mind hates a vacuum, so whenever we have a space of free time we usually race to find something new to fill it with.

The only real solution for not having enough time is the same as the solution for not having enough money — use someone else’s. Fortunately, it’s a lot easier to find someone who is willing to give you their time than it is to find someone who will give you their money. And, what you pay for OPT is usually a heck of a lot less than we’re using to paying people for the use of their money.

Almost everything you do as an investor can be done by someone who is working for you. The challenge is finding the right people, training them well enough, and staying on top of things. Once you master these skills, you can multiply the number of hours available to do deals every week and accomplish more than you were physically or emotionally capable of doing alone. Plus, you now have the added benefit of getting work done without the rigors of having to do much of it yourself anymore.

So, the big secret to having more time is to make a list of everything you do to make money in real estate (hang signs, run ads, inspect houses, make calls, check emails, talk with buyers, run errands, etc) and ask yourself, “Which of these things should someone else be doing for me?” Once you have the list of tasks, the next step is to hire someone to take the workload off of your back and put it onto theirs. When you have done this, it will amaze you how much more productive you can be, how many more deals you can do, and how much closer you have come to having the income and the lifestyle that made us want to get started as real estate entrepreneurs in the first place.

Why do you think most investors get into real estate to begin with? Is it because they like wading through three feet of trash inside of dilapidated junkers? Is it because they savor talking on the phone so much that they found a way to make money doing it? Could it be because they enjoy leaving their families at the dinner table in order to spin tires and get a deed signed by a seller who waited until the night before the auction to finally do something about their problem?

The odds are that if you’re anything like me, you don’t take on the demands and risks of real estate investing just for the fun of it. The odds are you’re doing it for the money. Of course, there are the benefits of helping people and there are those feelings of accomplishment after finishing a rehab or selling a house. But if you’re investing primarily for those reasons, go join the Peace Corps, or get a contractor’s license, or become a Realtor.

The only reason I can conceive of someone wanting to invest in real estate is for financial gain, which is not an impure motive. Money is what buys us the freedom to do, well, whatever the heck it is we want to do. But what do we end up doing? We end up working like crazy and not doing the things for which we’re investing in real estate to begin with.

For example: When I started investing, I decided to try to buy as many houses as I could in order to avoid having a full-time job that consumed all of my time. I planned on spending my time at that point writing music (one of my dreams). Now fast-forward three years. I had become a full-time investor running a fast-paced money machine doing deal after deal every month. Guess how many songs I wrote during those three years? Zero…

Finally, I realized that I had to find a way to get my life back again and create the time to do what would make me happiest in life, rather than filling in the time with more work. I had been using assistants to do some work for me, but decided to start delegating as much as humanly possible. That’s when I went from working 40 hours per week on real estate down to three hours per day, and so can you.

The secret, of course, is to get some hired help, which everybody knows they ought to, but few actually do. And even fewer still do it right. Some people try it once, have a bad experience hiring the wrong person, and conclude that “you just can’t find anyone good enough”. I think more people never even take the first step and consign themselves to a life full of tedious, bothersome chores.

These are the main excuses for why investors don’t get with the program and take control of their lives again by hiring help:

* “I’m not doing enough deals yet.”
Who says you have to be? Hiring an assistant does not have to be a huge deal. You could always find someone early on to put in 2-3 hours per week for you doing simple tasks, like putting up signs, taking calls from buyers, and licking envelopes for your mailers. In fact, getting someone else to send mailers for you (which we both know you would procrastinate doing yourself) will get you more deals than you otherwise would.

* “I don’t have the money.”
It’s funny that the people who say that they have no money to pay someone $8/hr for a few hours per week somehow manage to come up with thousands of dollars to buy the latest real estate seminar. Paying an assistant is a leap of faith…you pay them for a while, nothing happens immediately, but then before you know it you’re finding more deals and have more time and resources to do them. It works. But if you never take that leap, you will just keep puttering along — not doing any or many deals. But at least you’re saving a few hundred bucks here and there, right? Sounds great…not.

* “I don’t mind doing the work myself.”
I don’t mind cooking dinner myself, but I don’t want to do it for 10-30 hours per week. Isn’t there something you’d rather be doing besides licking envelopes, making phone calls and delivering simple messages, asking the same boring questions to tenant/buyers who call? If nothing else, get someone else to do these things so that you can spend more time doing things that are more productive, like building a real business instead of getting tied down in busy work.

* “I can do it cheaper and better myself.”
Do you rehab houses yourself to save money? If yes, stop reading right now because there’s no chance I’ll get this point through to you. If no, then you know that it makes sense to pay someone else to do work for you, so why not apply that principle to other types of work besides renovations? You can do an assistant’s work yourself, and it will be cheaper so far as less money going out of your pocket. But it’s not worth it in the end, because there will be less money going into your pocket as there could be if you freed yourself up to do the things that bring you more deals (or get someone else to do those things). One extra deal would probably pay for your assistant for the next year or two.

* “I don’t have time to follow-up with anyone.”
Maybe you don’t have the time because you are doing everything yourself. What if it took you 10 minutes to to follow up with someone who would save you 60 minutes of time by doing work for you…would it be worth it? You’d find the time to coordinate with them, wouldn’t you? I look at spending time with an assistant like I do spending money on a deal or on marketing — a necessary and very worthwhile investment. You’d be crazy not to. Make the time and you’ll have more time.

* “No one else can do it like I can.”
No one else can do what like you can — fold letters? Pick up printer paper at the store? Drop UPS envelopes off in the drop-box? Last time I checked, anyone can do those things. So, if nothing else, find someone to do only the things that would be difficult or impossible to screw up. This will give you at least a few more hours per week to do the specialized work that only you can do. You’ll find that once you’ve done that, you can trust your assistant (provided you hired right) to do other work for you as well, starting with the simplest tasks and working up to more complex things, all according to your level of comfort.

So, how many hours do you work each week, and how many hours do you really want to work? If there’s a big difference between these two numbers, hiring help will get you there. Otherwise, things will never get better, no matter how many promises you make to your spouse. Or, if you are happy with the hours you’re working, ask yourself, “How much more could I get done if there were another me getting at least 50% more done than I am now by myself?” In this case, an assistant is also the answer to getting what you want.

I have consulted with hundreds of investors over several years, and our challenges tend to be exactly the same. I have heard many, many investors (ranging from newbies to pros doing 3-5 deals/month or more) complaining about the same things:

“I wish I had more time.”
“I wish I could get more done.”
“I wish I could have some fun for a change rather than being a slave to my real estate business.”

The solution is always the same, and every investor who discovers this wonders how they ever survived as long as they did without it. Just hire some help. Find the right person, and put them to work immediately. Don’t put it off any longer. Do it now, and you’ll thank yourself for the rest of your life.

Working with real estate agents can be a challenge if the agent you’ve selected isn’t aware of your needs in acquiring property. They’re accustomed to selling at retail and any deviation from what they consider normal can jeopardize what could otherwise be a great working relationship. The good news is that you have the power to provide the education – if you’re willing to take the time. Here’s how you can do your part.

If you’re trying to work with a real estate agent that has never seen – much less worked with – a real estate investor, the first thing you need to do is have a sit-down meeting to explain your goals, your investing strategy, and your needs.

But don’t forget that your real estate agent also has needs.

The good news is that today’s market conditions make this a good time to forge what could be a mutually satisfying long-term relationship. Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’re pretty well aware that retail buyers have disappeared. Because of this – and low prices – real estate investors are on a buying spree. You can work together and turn incredible profits with the help of a real estate agent that “gets it”.

You may be an investor that typically avoids real estate agents whenever possible because you don’t want to deal with real estate commissions. That’s fine and dandy, but in some locations you may not have a choice.

More and more states are enacting rules designed to protect consumers from those who would take advantage of them. As a result, states like Oregon have passed laws requiring that real estate agents be involved in any deal that causes homeowner equity to be transferred to another party. Other states such as California could follow suit.

Instead of arguing the merits of the rules, accept them and move on. You can also use a real estate agent effectively as a negotiation tool when working short sales. If you’re new to short sales or are working with a lender with whom you’ve never worked before, you may not be aware of the specific steps involved. In addition, some lender loss mitigation departments have their own rules, policies, and procedures. If you violate protocol your offer will be delayed – or rejected.

A real estate agent is a known commodity to the friendly banker. Banks work closely with real estate agents on traditional purchases, so there’s an institutional bias that favors the real estate agent.

The bank is more likely to consider an offer that makes sense if it’s presented by someone who speaks their language. Here’s another thought to consider: If a good real estate agent can help grease the wheels and get your offer in front of a lender, you can get an answer more quickly, and potentially close more deals.

There can also be other perks to working with a real estate agent: research. Once you establish a solid working relationship, a real estate agent will be willing to share information with you that would take much longer for you to do yourself. Comps and other MLS data is available through a real estate agent; however, you don’t want to abuse the relationship.

Solid relationships with a real estate agent will open doors for you that may have been securely closed in the past. It makes sense to build relationships that will further your goals, enhance your career, and add real value to your bottom line. A real estate agent can help you as much as you can help them with repeat business and providing the means to keep earning money despite the fact that the retail residential real estate market has almost completely dried up.

One of the questions I am asked frequently is, “If I get an assistant, how do I avoid training my competition, but also get someone with the initiative to make things happen on their own?”

This question assumes that the only people with initiative are those who are interested in investing in real estate. This is simply untrue. Don’t you know plenty of people who are interested in real estate, but don’t take the initiative to do anything about it? Likewise, there are plenty of people with initiative who would be willing to work as your personal assistant, but are not necessary interested in investing themselves.

How many secretaries and office managers do you know that work for accounting firms and actually wish they were crunching numbers and preparing tax returns? How many receptionists in law firms want to be the ones preparing legal briefs at 1:00 in the morning or cross-examining a defendant in a heated courtroom? Probably not too many.

Assistants apply for their jobs because they like working as an assistant, not because they are fascinated with the type of product or service their employer provides.

Real estate investing is no different. It is not necessary to hire someone who is interested in doing deals of their own someday, and I don’t recommend it. It is likely that with such a person, any of the following things will happen:

They will leave you in order to go try to do deals on their own. They may be completely unsuccessful and never become a major competitor, but it will still waste your time replacing them with someone new.

They might steal your prospects, deals, and secrets. They might start their own investing business while working for you and steal your seller leads, potential buyers, private lenders, and top-secret marketing methods. This could cost you tens of thousands in lost deals.

They might ask you to pay them more than you need to. They feel like they’re doing as much work as you, so they should be entitled to a piece of the action. Little do they know that anyone can spend their time working on a deal. But you are the one putting your name and money on the line and obligating yourself to perform every time you do a deal. If this doesn’t mean anything to them, ask them if they’d like to share the risk as well and owe tens of thousands on a deal that goes bad. The chances are they won’t, and if that’s the case, why should they get a piece of the profits when things do go well?

They might get jealous and difficult to work with. In this case, you can either continue to deal with their bad attitude and let them hold you hostage, or you will let them go and spend your precious time hiring and training someone else. Either case is a waste of your time and should be avoided.

Because of these reasons, I don’t believe it’s worth the risk in the first place to hire someone who wants to learn how to be an investor. If they want to learn how, let them find some deals and wholesale them to you. Anything else they do is not worth paying more than an hourly rate.

So how do you find someone with initiative who will also stay with you for a long time? Here is a short list of a few simple things you can do to find someone who won’t go out on their own.

Ask them in the interview if they have any interest in investing. Very few people are going to flat-out lie and say they have no interest if they do. In fact, they will probably be sure to tell you that they want to be an investor because they think it will make you want to work with them even more.

I should add, though, that many applicants will say they wouldn’t mind buying an investment property someday. This is understandable. What you want to avoid are the excited, go-getter seminar graduates who want to go out and make a lot of money today (this is your competition in training). You can usually tell who these folks are — just let them talk and they will reveal their ambitions.

Look for people who don’t need the money you’ll be paying them. These assistants don’t really want to learn how to be an investor; they just want something to do. For example, someone whose children are all in school during the day or have all moved out of the house may have some extra time on their hands and want to spend it doing something fulfilling and make a little extra money at the same time.

Use a non-compete clause. I had an attorney draw up an employment agreement that includes a non-compete clause with stiff penalties if your assistant decides to become an investor themselves or even work for another investor. That’s something else I would do to weed out future competitors from the beginning and keep them from getting any wild ideas once they’ve started working for you — unless, of course, you don’t mind. In that case, go ahead and let them, but at least you will be in control.

Make sure to gripe on occasion about what a pain tenants/cash flow/rehabs can be. You know that investing is never as easy as it appears to be, and that there are some really annoying things that come up. You don’t have to lie, but make sure that you vocalize your grievances to your assistant from time to time as a deterrent.

Having said all this, I believe in a world of abundance and not scarcity. You may wonder why this topic is such a big deal. Here’s why. The abundance theory is something to console yourself with when you lose a deal. It’s not a good enough reason to spend your hard-earned time, talents, energy, and money teaching someone everything you know for free so that they can desert you once they have gotten everything from you that they want — unless that is your plan all along.

I have mentored plenty of investors, and it is very rewarding. But the key is to be in control and do it intentionally with both of you aware of and consenting to the arrangement. If you don’t desire to be used and discarded by other people, it makes sense to learn how to be in control, and has been the purpose of this article.

Hiring a real estate attorney for your team is one of the most important decisions to consider when first becoming involved in real estate investing. The right Attorney will keep you on tract and lessen your liability in your real estate investments. I would not and did not start investing until all my paperwork was state-specific, meaning it was not some generic paperwork offered in an office supply store.

I subscribe to Lexis to do my real estate law research. Since I do sell a real estate investing course, it is important to me in keeping knowledgeable of the latest court decisions regarding real estate. Lexis is really for attorneys and is somewhat expensive for the layman to subscribe to. However, since I am a serious professional investor, I feel it is important to stay on top of my profession. Subscribing also cuts down on attorney time if some of the research is done before a consultation. I never advise my students regarding real estate law. But, I might recommend they have their attorney look at a certain case to help them should the occasion arise.

After you select two or three real estate attorneys from a list you can get from www.martindale.com or www.law.com, which shows their qualifications. I would then go to the court house in your area, check with the clerk there and ask to review cases in which those attorneys have been involved and most importantly whether they won or lost their cases. If you are going to hire an attorney make sure he is a winner, or at least won the majority of time.

Questions to Ask a Prospective Attorney?

My first question would be; what experience do you have in creative real estate investing such as (use the method that you use for investing) subject to investing? If you get an off-in-the-distance stare as he contemplates what to tell you, be assured he does not have the first clue. The Attorney should be open to and understand creative real estate investing. This is very important in making your final decision. The attorney must be very attentive to your needs; he lets you discuss your method of investing then responds in a forthright manner.

How much of your practice is in real estate? Depending on your market size it should be at least 30% to 50%. In smaller markets there would be less need for an attorney to devote all their practice to real estate. Five years of real estate law experience would be the minimum acceptable to me.

Do you have other real estate investors as clients? If so, ask if you can contact them for references.

What are your fees? The size of the law firm is not an important factor except larger firms usually charge more because of their overhead and are not as available to you as a smaller firm. The price the attorney charges are not as important as how well he works for you, with you and gets the job done. The old adage you get what you pay for applies here.

Do you work with other real estate professionals? The attorney should be able to recommend and refer you to other professionals such as CPAs, bortgage Brokers, (for refinances), etc.

These are a few things to look for, but what I feel are the most important to me and hopefully should be for you too.

Good investing.

A caution to always seek out the advice of a competent attorney before “trying this at home” is always good advice, but I find it difficult to proffer truly good (nonlegal) advice on the subject of seeking the right attorney with regard to the PACTrust™ or land trusts in general. In fact, I find myself “jest a tad ‘twixt a rock and a hard place” here (as it were), mostly because…they jest ain’t hardly none a’tall around these parts (as they say on Jerry Springer).

Although I certainly do not advocate proceeding in any real estate related transaction without the advice of a “good’ and “knowledgeable” real estate attorney, the quandary in which I find myself is that first off, there are very few attorneys who know a lot about the use of trusts in general. Then there is the fact that there are even fewer who know kidney beans from koala bears about what a “land trust” is…much less how it differs from other living trusts, and what it’s capable of doing. Many attorneys have never even heard of such a thing; and there are even fewer yet who are competent to offer sound advice — pro or con —relative to the use or safety of an “Illinois-type, revocable, intervivos, title-holding beneficiary-directed, third party trustee, land trust transfer (the PACTrust™).”

Ordinarily, when an uninitiated attorney is engaged for the purposes of reviewing a land trust transfer — much less a PACTrust™ with all of its attendant appendices, directions, escrow documentation, creditor letters, etc. — he or she is faced with a true pointy-horned dilemma. The only two options available are: 1) Get into Nexus-Lexus or out to the law library and spend hours in getting educated on the advent and history of land trusts, or 2) render advice (pro or con) on something they know virtually nothing about (and it will always be ‘con,” I can assure you).

I’d presume no less than 10 or 20 hours would be needed to thoroughly research the pertinent local and federal codes and cites, and the myriad features and uses of the land trust (i.e., a bill of from $1,700 to $ $5,000); Think about it – if you were a busy attorney with your itinerary over-burdened with time constraints, what would you prefer to do? Would you opt to: 1) Spend your “billable” hours doing hard research for free for a transaction you’ll probably never see the likes of again; 2) Risk your client’s walking away and receiving nothing for your consulting time, or 3) might you attempt to convert the entire transaction to something else – something you better understand, and are more competent to advocate and on which you could make some money?

Similarly, if you were the client seeking and hoping to pay only for a simple review and approval of a set of documents, would you be willing to finance your attorney’s continuing legal education at the rate of $175 to $275 (or ?) per-hour? Probably not. My guess is that you’d relent, as many do, and be coerced into accepting the suggestion that the entire transaction should be transformed into something more “manageable (for the attorney)”. Perhaps a nice “Contract for Deed” or maybe a little seemingly innocuous “Lease Option.” After all, let’s face it, there just isn’t much billable potential in telling a client, “I’m not competent to review these documents – you should see someone else.”

Taking the advice to “convert to something else” clearly means reverting back to the very downsides, short falls and serious risks that the NARS PACTrust™ conveyance concept was designed to avoid and protect you from in the first place: shortfalls such as the lenders’ due-on-sale clause or alienation admonitions; the risk of a resident’s claim of “Equity” to forestall eviction and force judicial foreclosure; the constant threat of the seller’s or your buyer’s creditor and/or tax lien judgments attaching to the property (or the Option on it); the insidious susceptibility to attachment of the property due to partition actions and/or charging orders against individual participants by judgment creditors; risk of involvement in the other party’s probate or forced ancillary administration; recordation and public notification of the transaction; absence of a third party holding device and trustee to ameliorate potential for disputes; etc., er… to name a few.

If you or I were to consult with our licensed, board-certified general medical practitioner about treatment for a brain tumor, a good one would refer us to a neurologist. However, the mindset of the legal practitioner is all too often analogous to a physician suggesting that we simply contract a more manageable condition. ”I don’t know much about the brain, so how ‘bout I treat you for hemorrhoids instead? Here. Take this. Pay me. Call me in the morning, and if this pill doesn’t work…great, just let me know
and we’ll switch to another disease.“

So (you ask), “Well, should I seek the advice of an attorney or not?”
Yup you should! Indubitably as a matter-of-fact (so say I)! However, do be sure to choose a truly competent one who has experience with land trust transfers in creative real estate transactions. And if they start talking about Lease Options, Lease Purchases, Land Contracts (Contracts for Deed), Wrap-Around Mortgages, Equity Shares, Subject-To’s or Silent Seconds…run! (Unless, of course, the attorney is your brother-in-law in which even it will be you who is facing the dilemma).

Are there any attorneys you could recommend? Thanks for asking, but no. Although there are a few with whom I’ve become familiar who do understand the concept (albeit a limited few, to be sure): Gary Gitlen – Agoura Hills, California; Bill Bronchick – Denver Colorado; Mark Warda – Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; Bryan Dunklin – Dallas, Texas; Jay Swob – Cincinnati Ohio; Henry W. Keno – Chicago, Illinois (but he’s dead), Paul De Witt – Los Angeles, California; Martin Slater -
Los Angeles, California; Michael Kilmartin – Simi Valley, California.

Some Attorney Quotes:

In answer to “Why aren’t there more attorneys who know about land trusts?

“Because very few know how to use them and even fewer recognize all the benefits.”
Mark Warda, Attorney, Florida

“If you can’t find the expertise [when seeking a competent attorney re. land trusts], you have no choices but to keep on looking, or take upon yourself the task of trying to educate your advisors and counselors.”
Jay Douglas Swob, Attorney, Cincinatti

“Another problem with using attorneys is that most have a negative attitude. They will probably advise against using a land trust because they [themselves] don’t understand it.”
Bill Bronchick, Attorney, Denver

“In that the ‘land trust’ is less frequently used outside of Illinois where it was first created [1891], it is unlikely that many will be immediately familiar with its benefits or structure.”
Henry W. Kenoe, Attorney, Chicago (Dc’d)
(Keno on Land Trusts, IICLE, 1989)

“No! Don’t do it! Oh m’god! These can only be done in Illinois. They violate the Doctrine of Stepped Transactions. Lease tenants can’t take tax write-offs. You crazy? No court in the country would see such a thing as a conversion of real estate to personal property! Run Gertrude, run! Run like the wind!

But wait. Before you rush off, Gertrude, let me create an all-inclusive wrap-around mortgage for you instead. It’ll do the all the same things and I’ll only charge you $2,000.” The Due-on-Sale Clause? Oh, don’t worry about that…lenders never pay any attention to those things. I’ll build in a nice exculpatory paragraph anyway so you can’t sue me) and it’ll be in bold print. Could the buyer get the property embroiled in a lawsuit or tax lien while you’re still on the mortgage loan and unable to make the payments or sell the property? Well, I suppose so, but that hardly ever happens either.. don’t worry about it. Could you evict the buyer if he doesn’t make his payment? Well, no. But, hey, there’s always judicial foreclosure, Unlawful Detainer, Ejectment and quiet-tile action: which I will be more than happy to handle for you (at $225 per hour plus court costs…no guarantees of course).

“Would the property be tied up in the other party’s probate proceedings, if they die? Well, um, yes, but most people don’t ever die: but even if they were to, that would just be a matter of another paycheck for me, now wouldn’t it? I don’t see any problems here.“
Anonymous, Riverside, Ca.

“There is no person on earth who is more apparently knowledgeable about the law than an attorney who doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about.”
Bill Gatten, Seminar Leader, Northridge, Ca.

Whether you like it or not you can’t do it all by yourself. Investing in real estate requires many different professionals. There are realtors, appraisers, inspectors, builders, remodelers, mortgage companies, banks, property managers, attorneys, partners, accountants, sign companies, printing companies and yes even mentors, buyers, sellers and tenants. I have heard in business that you are only as good as your weakest link. I want to suggest that you choose your team carefully. You may even want to go as far as interviewing your team players.

After all this is a business and the dollar amounts can be substantial so you want to make sure that your team members have the same morals, ethics, business philosophy and personality as you. This is not to say that you will not make some mistakes and or changes along the way but when you start out with a list of the qualities that you are looking for in your team it makes the decision process much easier. Yes I did say qualities and not experience or education. It’s easy to find someone who knows the business or has experience but it can be a challenge to find the right qualities and personality in the person you are looking for.

I would start my search by seeking a referral from someone who is already in the business and is successful. Make sure you know the person you are seeking the referral from well enough to know that you will be well received when you contact whomever they referred. Notice that I indicated that you seek a referral from someone who is not only in the business but is “successful”.

It doesn’t do any good to contact a banker for a line of credit when you have been referred by someone the banker just turned down nor does it look good to contact a realtor referral from someone who just backed out of the last deal they had under contract. I think it is only appropriate to note here that if you are making a referral to someone who is building their team, make sure you know a little about this person also. It doesn’t help you by referring someone to your banker who just got out of bankruptcy and has a history of shady deals.

Once you establish your team players you should be loyal to them. Let me give you an example. Who are you going to call when you find a listing online or another realtors listing while driving the neighborhood? Most people would say I call the listing agent. I used to do the same thing. Let me suggest you call your team player and let them go to work for you.

If you call the listing agent it and buy the house it may be the only sale you give that realtor this year. By calling your realtor that closed 30 transactions for you last year they will go to bat for you to get you the price and terms that they already know you are looking for. Not to mention the fact that you will be the one they call when they find a deal that has to be sold fast. Trust me on this, as I know from experience.

I hope that this will help you in building your team.

Whether you’re just getting started down the road towards fulfilling your real estate investing dreams or you’re a little more experienced, a good mentor can get you closer to the realization of your goals by showing you some of the tips, tricks, and other shortcuts that have fueled their success.

The problem many fledgling real estate investors face – and some with a little more experience – is self doubt about their ability to put together profitable deals, as well as having numerous questions about when certain techniques would be most appropriate.

These doubts and questions can easily be alleviated by knowledge, but a lot of real estate investors have trouble applying principles they may have read about, heard about, or seen in a short webinar. This is one of the primary areas a good, experienced mentor can help increase their base of knowledge and give them the motivation and the direction they need to reach their goals and fulfill their investing dreams.

First of all, mentors aren’t all created the same. In order to be effective you have to have practical, relevant experience in the same kind of real estate investing as those you plan on teaching. A mentor can be one of the nation’s foremost authorities on creative commercial real estate investing techniques, but much of that knowledge and experience is pointless if you’re primarily interested in foreclosures, short sales, or rehabbing abandoned properties.

A good mentor will be concerned about your development as a real estate investor and will take the steps necessary to ensure that you are well-versed in multiple investing strategies. He or she will share with you accumulated knowledge and advice about how to better market yourself, and provide you with essential real estate investing tips and strategies that you can implement in your own career. By understanding a variety of ways of structuring investment deals, you will not only increase your knowledge, but you’ll become comfortable crafting deals of your own.

In many cases, a mentor will work shoulder to shoulder with you in the field and explain to you why certain strategies may or may not be appropriate in a given situation. In addition, certain strategies can be altered or modified in a way that a less experienced real estate investor might not be aware of, or may not have even considered. When you’ve been around the block several dozen times, you learn things that a simple textbook just can’t teach.

If you want to really ramp up your real estate investing career, you owe it to yourself and your future to thoroughly investigate the idea of working with an experienced mentor to shine a light on the opportunity you have to build a strong investment portfolio and a bright future for you and your family.

If you interview just about any successful real estate investor you’ll typically find they have drive, determination, and stamina, but every good investor also has a strong advocate in their corner, watching and encouraging them every step of the way. The most prolific investors have a coach – or mentor – giving them solid advice and helping them to avoid some of the roadblocks, detours, and traffic jams that can delay or prevent their coronation as successful investors.

There are four stages of investing where coaching makes sense:

1. Before You Get Started – At this stage of your career you have more questions than answers. You’re invigorated and excited about the future, but you’re also afraid of making costly mistakes. A lot of investors fear failure so much they delay investing – spending thousands on one real estate investing course after another – trying to convince themselves that they’re investing in their futures, when in reality they’re hiding from it. A coach can help you adequately assess your preparation and see if you need more education or a gentle nudge towards the playing field.

2. After you get started and you’re doing well – You may have left the gate with the zeal of an Olympic sprinter, but you need to realize that real estate investing is like a marathon. If you don’t pace yourself, you can get winded, slow down, and drop out. A coach can help you to find opportunities you may have overlooked – and to avoid mistakes that could throw you off track.

Starting strong can generate income, but good coaching can help you build sustainable wealth, instead of a quick infusion of cash followed by extended periods of inactivity. What’s the best way to segue from one stage to the next? How do you evaluate the current market and accurately decide what the future holds? A good coach can tell you that – and more.

3. After you get started and you’re struggling – An immediate stumble out of the gate can cause some investors to question the wisdom of their decision. This problem can be compounded by listening to family and friends who are married to the idea of earning just enough to get by. Accustomed to failure – or at least mediocrity – they assume that you are, too. The worst thing you can do is elevate all the Doubting Thomases in your midst to positions of influence.

A real estate investing coach doesn’t have the mindset of finding you a graceful exit strategy from real estate investing. They’ll show yow new ways to face your fears, assess your strengths, and turn things around. It won’t happen overnight, but a coach can give you the guidance you need to turn around and get headed in the right direction.

4. Any time you’re ready to move to the next level – Regardless of where you’re at in your investing career, you’ll face moments of self-doubt and confusion about the best move for your career. You’re traveling in what is to you uncharted territory. An investing coach knows the lay of the land and how to reach your financial destination. Are you taking advantage of every opportunity to advance your career? What could you be doing better?

Whether it’s learning advanced investing techniques or better utilization of your credit, an investing coach can show you multiple options for getting where you want to go. You may have considered some and discarded them due to misunderstanding their significance. A coach will help you see the light without shoving you into the path of an oncoming train.

As you can see, a coach is needed no matter where you find yourself on the real estate investing success track. You can easily falter or stumble, but with an investing coach there to guide you, you can plan on reaching your financial, personal, and investing goals more quickly. A coach can’t guarantee that you’ll never falter or stumble.

What they can do, however, is help to ensure that a stumble doesn’t precede a painful fall to the rear of the pack. Hire a good coach to catch you if you fall, to direct you when you stray, and to celebrate you when you succeed.