More Bank Failures

Sunday, August 30, 2009
A report was released today stating that bank failures are up to 84 this year. This signifies a growing opportunity to buy defaulted paper, short sales, and REOs. As an avid real estate and short sale investor, we've never seen opportunity like this.

Please understand this observation is not meant to diminish the severity of the economic crisis our country is faced with right now. The way I see it, investors are the ones infusing the economy with much needed cash. We're the ones buying short sales and REOs, keeping houses occupied with families and preventing neighborhoods from deteriorating.

Yet banks don't want to recognize this. Many of them feel investors are responsible for the mess we're in. Ahh, but banks and institutional lenders should not point the finger. It started with the banks. If the banks didn't loosen their lending guidelines in the first place, and permit less than credit worthy buyers from obtaining a loan, we wouldn't be in this mess.

And yet the banks are setting up all kinds of roadblocks and guidelines to prevent the real estate investor from making a profit, as if making a profit were evil and a scourge that should be eliminated altogether. Just look at the seasoning requirements banks are instituting. More and more lenders are requiring 90-180 days seasoning on title before a house can sold to an end buyer. Pure goofiness. It should be going in the other direction. No seasoning requirements. Try this for a month and see how quickly money finds its way into the market. Credit will relax, and the economy starts flowing again.

Make it easier to do short sales, not tougher. Get inventory moving faster, get defaults off the bank books, take the money and move it forward.

Massive Action Produces Massive Results

Saturday, August 29, 2009
After watching the Tony Robbins video, and recommending it to EVERYONE I knew, I would have been remiss and a hypocrite to not follow through on the message and advice given. So here's what I did...

After my morning swim, I headed to the sauna for my daily meditation. And instead of my usual ritual of focusing on what I choose to have in my life, I focused my intention on the RESULTS, as if I had already achieved those goals, and the euphoric feeling that's associated with it. It was a major shift, to say the least.

I kept thinking, "Peak State, Peak State, Peak State." Not "For Pete's Sake," but "Peak State." After 15 minutes of sweating like a banshee (but unaware of the heat because of the visions I saw with my third eye), I showered quickly, got dressed, and grabbed my notebook. (I always carry a notebook with me...the basic black and white composition kind).

My head was filled with ideas. I wrote like a madman. I'm about to introduce a new product to the real estate niche, so I'd been thinking about it for some time. To be honest, I was feeling stuck. But what came out of me and onto the page was how I was going to let folks know what the product is, how it was created, why I created it, and so many of the answers I was looking for. And all this 'stuff' just poured out onto the page. My pen and fingers couldn't keep up with my brain.

It was such an amazing feeling to see the results and answers I'd been searching for for weeks suddenly materialize and manifest on the page IN JUST ONE SHOT! And I can't seem to turn off the faucet. Product ideas, marketing ideas, story ideas, copy ideas just keep flowing...days after that first initial minor tweak in focus. I can't stop writing!

So now that I tapped that potential, took action, and manifested results, my beliefs about what is possible and what can be achieved has changed as well...from uncertainty to certainty.

Give it a shot. It doesn't take a whole lot of effort to change your world.

Must-watch video

Wednesday, August 26, 2009
I just saw this video and was completely captivated. It really is a must see, no matter what you do or who you are.

It will truly inspire and get you on the right track. If you're feeling stuck, in a rut, need a change, want to achieve a goal, feeling confused or going in circles, do yourself a HUGE favor...get quiet, turn off the phone, avoid any distractions, and don't get up. Just focus your eyes on this wonderful piece of content. And I guarantee you'll feel different when it's done.

View the video below and tell me what you think.

Short sale negotiations is my thang

Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Been negotiating short sales now for over 6 years. Started before all the hullabaloo of the foreclosure tsunami and the subprime meltdown. I remember it being so much easier to negotiate with loss mitigation because they weren't so swamped with files. A few weeks was average for a response and approval.

Over the years, I've personally negotiated tons of successful short sales in many states around the country. The experience of being on the phone on a daily basis talking to banks, lenders, lienholders, the IRS, creditors, and vendors has really given me an education in how to negotiate effectively.

I LOVE to negotiate.

You get to really know the psychology of negotiating by doing it every day. How loss mitigators think, why they say the things they do, the tricks they'll use to get the most money for the banks, who makes decisions and who doesn't. It's helped me to handle every objection and tactic in the book.

Also, being a part of several Short Sale mastermind groups over the years with some of the top short sale investors and realtors in the country has really skyrocketed the learning curve. As you know, there's no substitute for experience and just diving into the fire. We share information, push each other to fine tune our businesses, and give one another total support. The great thing about being in a short sale mastermind is that we keep each other accountable. Everyone is the group is a performer. If we don't do what we say we're gonna do, it's adios. I feel very fortunate to be a part of the masterminds.

Can't wait to share what I've learned with you, so you can make your life and business easier and much more profitable. Stick around for negotiating strategies, tips, and real life loss mitigation stories on how to plow through the muck and roadblocks to get your deal done.



Where it all began...

Sunday, August 16, 2009
My wife, 1 year old daughter, and I were living in Los Angeles back in 2001. The townhouse we were renting was haunted. No joke. Saw shadows moving, sounds, noises all the time. What bugged me most was that I was paying rent and the spirits were squatting rent free.

On top of that, the neighborhood where we resided was prone to crime. So just about every night, police surveillance helicopters whomped above us and blared their high beam search lights right into our bedroom window.

My daughter was having breathing issues due to the poor air quality. Couple that with the choppers and apparitions, I'm pretty sure the universe was sending my wife and me a message to get out of Dodge.

Well, I'm not one to mess with the universe, so I listened.

I was in LA because of my work. I was in the entertainment industry, freelancing at various production houses and studios in town: E!, Fox, Saban, NBC, writing and producing for film and television. Enjoyed my work, but had to do find a way to improve my daughter's health and preserve our sanity.

In short, we needed a better quality of life.

Our goal was to get to Sedona, AZ. In fact, this was our goal for years. How to get there and what to do for work once I did get there were the answers I was looking for.

Well, as fate would have it, I was led to real estate. Don't ask me why or how. I didn't know the first thing about real estate investing. Didn't know the language, how to get started, or even how to spell the word "howse."

In a very short 3 months, between Feb and April of '01, my life changed. With my wife's insight to the world...my world... she said real estate 'is it.' She knew, I didn't. But I listened.

We had very little money. I worked paycheck to paycheck. When I mentioned to her that I met a couple--who were very successful real estate investors who learned what they know at a 'big shot guru' real estate bookcamp--she said, "Go! This is it. This is our ticket out of here. I know it."

I charged the $5k we didn't have to our credit card and spent 5 days at a real estate seminar, feeling totally lost and depressed.

But something happened. I followed the "Action Guide" the guru gave us. The guide said that if I followed the steps outlined, I'd make $10k within 90 days. I never made $10k in one shot in my life.

45 days after leaving the bootcamp, my heart skipped a beat when one of the many offers I put in on houses in AZ got accepted. Needless to say, I was scared to death. Now what? Well, within 3 weeks we lease optioned the house for a $15,000 profit and $311 a month cashflow. I was floored.

Within 6 months, we bought 5 more rental properties in Northern AZ with none of our own money and moved out of LA and to Sedona in November 2001.

Today, my company specializes in short sales. We've been negotiating short sales for the past 6 years. Hundreds and hundreds of them.

I love to negotiate.

Stick around for some great insight and secrets on how to effectively negotiate mortgage and lien discounts with loss mitigators, creditors, the IRS, and any lienholder.