Virtual Real Estate Investing Telethon

Go Sit Back Down in Your Recliner . . .


Almost every real estate professional works way too hard for way too little.


You may be in that camp. You sacrifice time with your family and friends to constantly prospect, hustle, and "make things happen". Right now, your life is a blur trying to stay a step ahead of the dismal economy.


Here's a word of advice.

Stop. Relax. And Chill. . .


Here's why, Starting November 2nd, Terry Wygal and Duncan Wierman will show you how to sit back and draw motivated homebuyers and home sellers to you. Like a moth to a flame, the best prospects will seek you out. They will ignore the competition to get your opinion. They will hold-off on making a purchase or selling decision until they consult with you.


You will have your entire marketplace under your control. Every phone call will hold possibilities for even more profit, easy cash flow, and commissions.

Terry will show you how to bend Google to your will. Hundreds (maybe thousands) of buyers and sellers in your area are looking for YOU. Terry has a fool-proof method to keep your name in front of them and top-of mind.

PLUS

Duncan will show you "authority and trust" strategies that short-circuit your prospects "skepticism" radar. Within days, Duncan's strategies will transform you from "just another realtor or investor" into the "A-List" celebrity in your market.

Listen and learn from both of these powerhouses on the Real Estate Automation Telethon FOR FR*EE.


Just listen and profit.


Get the complete details and registration information here:

http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=3348498



Yours For Easy Profits -

Kim Tucker

Director of MAREI

www.MAREInet.com



P.S. I've just heard that the event organizers have confirmed the attendance of a couple new presenters that will rock your world - you can read about all of them here


http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=3348498

Real Estate Convetion in November

Many of our member's remember past real estate conventions that we have held right here in Kansas City with a bunch of different speakers.  And we keep getting asked, when is our next event.

Well, this is kind of spur of the moment, but we have a chance to participate in a Virtual Real Estate Convention during the 1st week in November. 

So what is a Virtual Real Estate Investor Convention:  well, you don't have to get dressed up, you don't have to leave your home or office, and you don't have to wait in between speakrs, because it is Virtual - right from your own home or office.  Just tune in and learn. 

Because it is virtual and we don't have to pay for a hotel or feed anybody, we don't have to charge a dime.  And because the speakers are doing most of the promotion and the hard work, MAREI doesn't have to figure out computer stuff, we just give you a link to click, you sign up with a name and an email, and they do the rest.

They will send you emails with the times and dial instructions for each of the speakers, you dial in at the appropriate time  and join in.

To find out more, click here.

Watch your emails for more information

Make Money

Make money on the internet doing things you would do anyway!


• Get your own customized home page with music, videos, games, news, and more!

• Save Money! Receive up to 15% cash back on purchase from over 400 stores!

• Make Money! Invite your friends & get paid every time they shop!

It’s simple,

• Click here

• Watch the videos

• Sign Up

• Shop if you need to buy anything online

• Invite your friends

M & I Bank - quarterly reports

Not as bad, but still not too good

Read Report

New York-Based Bank Earns $498 Million

Morgan Stanley returned to profitability for the first time in a year as income from its investment banking operations offset losses in commercial real estate.

From KMBC-TV Channel 9 - read full article

Pulaski Financial Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2009 Results

This just came across our Google Alert - local KC area Pulaski Bank published their 4th quarter and 2009 results and they appear to be good.  The report also notes increased profits from mortgages, which means they must be lending where other banks are not.  It does not define if that is investor loans, commercial, or home owner loans.

Read report from Reuters

2nd FREE Book for MAREI Members

Tell us where to send it, and we'll send you the number one


success book of all time.



My friends Vic and Lisa Johnson are doing this crazy marketing

test where they're giving away Napoleon Hill's "Think & Grow Rich."



I'm helping them with their big giveaway and wanted to make sure

you got your copy before they take this offer down.



Get the details here:

www.FreeTGRbook.com/MAREI



Feel free to pass this on to friends. They can get one too if they

act right away.



This is one of my favorite books. I know you'll love it!

FREE book for MAREI members

Real Estate Investors, if you have been in real estate and doing any online research for any amount of time, you will probably came across a ton of people giving away this book.




Order your FREE copy of James Allen’s "As A Man Thinketh."

http://www.FreeTGRbook.com/MAREI



CHANGE YOUR THOUGHTS, CHANGE YOUR LIFE



It’s the book that’s changed the lives of millions.





"I have personally read As a Man Thinketh over 25 times."

- Mark Victor Hansen, co-creator, the Chicken Soup books.





Download a FREE eBook of James Allen’s "As A Man Thinketh."

http://www.asamanthinketh.net/cmd.php?af=927012

Cash Flow Game in Lawrence

Announcing a new Meetup for The Jayhawk Cashflow Meetup!


What: Cashflow 101


When: October 27, 2009 6:00 PM


Price: $5.00 per person


Where:

Lawrence Parks & Recreation

115 W 11th St (11th & Vermont)

Lawrence, KS 66044



The last Meetup was a lot of fun!



We have one game available and can accommodate 5 people. The first members to RSVP will be confirmed, up to the 5 slots that are available. Let's get together and have some fun while learning!



I look forward to seeing you at the Meetup!



Learn more here:

http://www.meetup.com/cashflowgames/calendar/11677481/

If you can bring your own game, please get with the group leader and help him grow his group. 

MAREI would like to find someone to host a group in Overland Park - please email info@MAREInet.com if you have a game and could schedule a time and place for 4 other people to play with you.

Octomber Meeting Replay is Available

MAREI member's did you miss the October Meeting - the replay is now available in the General Meeting Archives.  Just go to www.MAREInet.com, log in, then click on General Meeting Archives.  You can listen to the mp3 of the meeting and download the powerpoint with all the notes.

Not yet a member - Join Now



MAREI General Meeting - Internet Marketing 101

General Meeting

October 13, 2009

Internet Marketing

More than ever, today's businesses depend on marketing to bring in new business and to keep current business coming back time and again.  There are many modes of marketing, TV, radio, magazines, newsletters and more.  To keep costs in line businesses large and small need to find ways to optimize the low cost marketing available through the internet.

First, you need to create a quality online presence that shows of your expertise on your subject.  Second you need to give them a reason to subscribe in some way and to come back and use your site again.  Third is the hard part, getting people to find your web site.

It does not matter how awesome your web site or  how many buzzers and bells it has, unless people find your web site, it will not do you any good.  There are many steps you can take so people find your web site and that is what we are going to be talking about at the October General Meeting.

Find out

• Steps to take to boost traditional marketing with your web site.
• What your web site needs to contain to help the search engines find you.
• How to research key words and where to use them.
• The difference between organic results and paid results on search engines.
• How to use blogs and articles to boost your organic results.

This meeting is perfect for beginners, you will not hear to many "internet geek" words as we don't really know them.  We will define all the weird words you may not have heard.  Be sure to catch the newsletter that comes out the Thursday prior to find out more about starting or improving your web site and then how to get people to come back or subscribe to your site.  If you have not yet subscribed to our online newsletter - use the sign up box to the left.

All Attendees Receive Directions to receive a FREE Magazine Subscription on Utilizing the Web.

10/13/2009 - Register Now

Vendor Table Reservation

Directions

Meeting to be held at the Overland Park Marriott at 10800 Metcalf (I435 & Metcalf) in Overland Park.
6:00 Doors Open for Vendor Hall & Networking
6:15 New / Potential Member Orientation (about 20 minutes - meet fellow new members)
7:15 Announcements and Sponsor
7:30 Presentation
9:00 Networking

November General Meeting

General Meeting

November 10th - Please Reserve Your Spot

11/10/2009-MAREI General Meeting

Speed Networking

The Real Estate Investing Gurus, the Real Estate Investing Training Books, and all the other Real Estate Training media out there tell us we have to build our team.  Pay some of the real estate mentoring programs out there $1000's and what do they want you to do first, build your team, talk to people, make contacts, learn from them.

So join us on Tuesday November 10th to do just that, build your team.  We will have our normal vendor hall and informal networking where you can visit with the vendors who have reserved space and work the room.  Then at 7:15 we will start our formal networking event.

We will have 90 minutes to complete our formal networking.  You will be divided into pairs and given 3 minutes to pitch yourself, your deal or what ever it is you need to pitch.  Then everone gets a new partner and gets another 3 minutes.  You should go home with at least 30 new contacts to add to your database.

We are also going to segregate the general marketing table into different catagories and only allow business cards tonight.  So you can put your stack of business cards in the appropriate catagory so people can just pick them up, even if they don't get 3 minutes to talk to you.

We do need to know how many people will be here, so members and non-members alike we ask you to pre-register so we can get a good head count.  You will need to have business cards, so check out the free ones and the discounts now on our Vendors page under printing and get your cards ordered now.  Takes about a week to get to you.  Or heck, print up a bunch on your printer, they don't have to be fancy.  Name, Company, contact info, and your 1 line message so people know who you are and what you do.

Register Now:  11/10/2009-MAREI General Meeting

Reserve A Vendor Table - room for 5:  11/10/2009-Vendor Table Reservation Deadline

Directions

Sponsored by  

                    

Details

Overland Park Marriot:  110th & Metcalf

6:00 pm Vendor Hall / Check In / Networking

6:15 pm  New member / Potential Member Orientation

7:15 pm  Sponsor Presentation

7:30 Educational Portion

Cost:  No charge for Members, Guest Fee at Door $25

Pre-Register on our Calendar of Events and Save $10 (Click Here)

Reserve Vendor Table throuh Calendar of Events(Click Here)

Larry Goins Bootcamp - Wholesale Real Estate Training

If you have wanted to learn more about real estate investing in general and how to wholesale houses in particular, then Larry Goins and his training team are the people to get hooked up with.  They have all the info you need to start a wholesale real estate investing business.  Plus a ton of tools to plug into an existing start up wholesale real estate investing business.

At last! The powerful secret to selling 5, 10, even 15 houses a month and pumping up to $30,000 AND MORE into your bank account is finally going to be revealed... right in front of your eyes...

"Have You Ever Wondered...

What Is The ONE Insider Secret That

Fat Cat Real Estate Moguls Use To

Earn the Million-Dollar Incomes That

‘Small Cat’ Investors Only Dream About?”

It all comes down to minimizing risk and maximizing returns with commercial and residential properties to buy and sell for quick profits.

How can YOU do that?

Click the MAGIC link below and instantly discover

• How to Locate Great Deals, Great Neighborhoods, and Great Properties so you’ll have no trouble flipping for profits

• The Best Strategies for distressed Property and Foreclosure Investing so you’re ahead of the pack when it comes to profits

• Contacting and Negotiating with Owners to make them see how working with you will make them winners (and you, too)

• Financing Your Deals in a way that bulletproofs your assets and puts other people’s money at risk

• Quick Turning Investments that put money in your pocket fast in ways that are just as easy as they are honest and legal

• Exit Strategies that leave you with no worries except how to spend your profits

• And more!

Just click the link below for more information & to register now!

www.KimTuckerFreeevent.com

The event is free but spaces are filling up quickly.  Don’t hesitate and miss out on this incredible training opportunity!

The training and the giveaways alone will be well worth your time investment.  Don’t miss it!

Real Estate Investing for Beginners – Part 2, Types of Properties for New Real Estate Investors

Not all real estate property types may be appropriate for new real estate investors. There are many factors to consider when making the decision to add real estate to an investment portfolio.

Read full article

And check out the Fast Start to Success workshop on October 17th at http://www.mareinet.com/ to be held in Kansas City, Missouri

Picking a Domain Name

How to Choose a Good Domain Name

To help your business grow by increasing your customer base through your website, you need to pick a website or domain name that does 5 key things.

1.       Easy to remember

2.       Easy to find which means easy to type

3.       Includes reference to your product or service.

4.       Is easily recognizable as you name so it can be trademarked to that competitors will not be able to use a similar domain name.

5.       And last you need to be sure it is not already trademarked to someone else.

So, what makes a good domain name?

1.     Good extension – that means the .whatever at the end.  When someone is going to the web, they will most likely try your name with a .com, so as a web site owner, if at all possible you want to get a .com name for your web site.

2.     Short – As in the length of the name.  Ideally you will be less that 7 or 8 characters.  Short names are easier to remember, tell someone about, to type, and let’s face it  www.widgets.com looks a lot more professional that www.wesellthings.com.

3.     Easy to spell – Test out your name choice and talk to people about it over the phone.  If you can tell 4 or 5 people your name and have them email it back to you, then it’s probably going to work.  But if even one of them screws it up, then you need something different.  Also consider if there are 2 words in the name that the last letter of the first word is not the same as the first letter of the next word.  People are not sure if they spelled it right.  One thing you could do if you have to have the double letter is to buy both names and have the misspelling redirect to the correct one.  Don’t use dashes or dots in the name.

4.     Descriptive – As you are starting out with probably a very limited marketing budget, use a domain name that describes what your site is all about.  People will know what you do just by reading your name.  As this article is for a Real Estate venue, let’s talk about Realtors getting a domain name that is their name.  You want a domain name that fills these 5 characteristics, but you might also want to buy a domain that is your name – like www.JoeBrown.com and redirect it to your web site.  It has become a common practice in real estate to do this and your customers might look for you at your name, it just probably would not be a very good name for the search engines to find.

5.     Keywords – a name will also Include keywords that describe your product or business.  This will help you in some cases to increase your search engine rankings.

Who to buy from

When you go to buy a domain name it is important to work with a reputable company. Note that there is a huge growth in affiliate programs that allow resellers to open online companies reselling names for legitimate companies.  Some Resellers are legitimate and will be there when you come back, but others are here and gone overnight.  So before you buy, be sure to research the company you are using.  You can find a full list of accredited companies http://www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html

Domain Name Extensions

While we suggest that you should always go for a .com extension, you need to know a bit about other choices.  The three most popular are “.com”, “.net”, or “.org”.  You may find that depending on what your company does, you might also want to buy a different extension.

·         COM is short for commercial and are the most widely recognized for businesses.

·         NET is short for network and was originally designed for technical web sites.

·         ORG is short for organization and is typically associated with non-profit organizations or associations or clubs.

You can also obtain a domain name extension that fit a specific country such as .ca for Canada or .jp for Japan.

Some web sites to check out

·         www.DirectNic.com to buy a domain name

·         www.GoDaddy.com to buy a domain name

About the Author:   Kim Tucker is the marketing manager for Mid-America Association of Real Estate Investors and several other real estate companies.  She will be discussing marketing your company on the internet at the October 2009 MAREI meeting.  Find out more about the meeting at MAREInet.com

Member Benefits: Rental Marketing Web Sites

Don't forget the many benefits for MAREI members including FREE listings on http://www.reiarentals.com/ and a 20% discount on http://www.rentals.com/. Log into the member Library and look under beneftis for more info and discount codes.

Also check out the syndication tools on these websites.  List your property once and syndicate out to other web sites with the click of a button.

October 13th Meeting - Promoting Your Business Online

Meeting October 13th, 6pm, Overland Park Marriott - Details

Most if not all of Real Estate Professionals are a small business and don't have huge budgets for marketing. Utilizing the internet, your website, blogs, articles and social media are great low costs ways to promote your business and in many cases work better than many costly old fashioned marketing methods.

At the October meeting we are going to be talking about things you can do to get your web site to move up in Google searches, how to use articles and blogs to drive traffic to your web site, how to use social media to gain more business.

All attendees to the meeting receive free subscription to a Website magazine and an E-Book on Facebook for Entrepreneurs.

The October Newsletter is posted

Read Now

This month's newsletter includes tons of info on setting up your web site and getting started. It is designed to go hand in hand with our meeting this month.

Discussing
1.  Starting a website
2.  Designing a website
3.  Key Elements of a website
4. Picking a Name for your website
5.  Plus a comprehensive list of our current member benefits

Forecast: Kansas City economy will recover in 2011

from the KC Business Journal:

The Kansas City area’s economy will recover in 2011, along with seven other metropolitan areas, according to a nationwide economic forecast by IHS Global Insight.




The other areas whose economies the company predicts will turn around in 2011 are Dallas-Fort Worth; Houston; Oklahoma City; Raleigh, N.C.; Salt Lake City; Virginia Beach-Norfolk, Va.; and Washington.



Read full post

Self Directed Retirment Accounts

Self Directed Retirement Accounts




By Kim Tucker



The purpose of this article is to give the reader a few ideas of what they can do with a self-directed retirement account. Before we get into the idea’s part thought, let’s first discuss a little bit about what a self-directed account is and what it can and can’t do.



A self-directed retirement account is basically an IRA, 401k or other retirement account that you are used to seeing that is invested in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. But where the accounts that you are familiar are managed by third party custodians that invest in the traditional stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, a self directed account is managed by a custodian that will allow you the owner to select the investments you would like to make. Investments can be what ever you would like as long as the IRA does not complete a prohibited transaction, does not invest in collectibles, make excess contributions, and withdrawals are made when required by law. Further you cannot enter into a transaction with a disqualified person.



To keep things simple we will be referring to all these various self-directed accounts as a IRA.



When you create a IRA it becomes an entity of it’s own. What it does is completely separate from your own personal funds. It is managed by the third party custodian or more simply a custodian which is a company that signs all legal documents on behalf of the IRA, writes checks, and acts as the all around book keeper and record keeper of the IRA. Two of the top companies that fill this role in the country are Equity Trust Company and Entrust. To get a full education on all the different types of accounts, how to set them up, and required forms and documents, please visit their web sites: www.trustetc.com and www.theentrustgroup.com .



While the IRA is an entity unto itself and managed by the custodian, you are the owner and can direct how the custodian invests the funds. The profits and losses created from these investments will increase and decrease the IRA account balance with all taxes deferred until you start with drawing funds when you retire. Or in the case of a Roth IRA that is created with after tax money, no taxes will ever be paid as long as you do not complete a prohibited transaction, invest in things you are not supposed to, and don’t make early withdrawals.



So what can’t you do? A prohibited transaction is any improper use of your IRA account by you, your beneficiary, any disqualified person. Basically YOU cannot borrow money from your IRA, YOU can’t sell property to your IRA, YOU can’t receive unreasonable compensation for managing your IRA, YOU can’t use your IRA as a security for a loan, and YOU can’t buy properties for personal use with your IRA funds. YOU cannot get a benefit out of your IRA. Likewise, your beneficiary, the person who inherits all your stuff, cannot do any of these things either.



You cannot do any of these things with a disqualified person. Understanding exactly who a disqualified person is will allow you to make a huge profit with your IRA.



So who is disqualified? Anyone who has discretionary authority in administering your IRA: you and your beneficiary we have already discussed, and also linear members of your family, and your spouse. So your spouse, your grandparents, your parents, you, your children and grandchildren are out. Your brothers and sisters, step children not legally related to you, cousins, and friends are in. Please keep this in mind when you are putting together transactions.



What if my IRA enters into a prohibited transaction. No there is no IRA jail, you don’t get locked up, but if you may have to pay taxes on premature distribution, your IRA may loose it tax deferred status, and you may have penalties to pay. Please be sure to read up on the custodian web sites mention previously.



So what can’t my IRA invest in? You can invest in any legitimate investment, but not in collectibles. This includes art works, rugs, antiques, metals, gems, stamps, coins, alcoholic beverages and other tangible personal properties. In some cases you can buy gold or silver, and coins, but please investigate this a little further before doing so.



You also cannot make excess contributions into your IRA. Each and every retirement account has a different set of rules and regulations on how much you can sock away into the account each year and is way beyond the scope of this article. Please get with your accountant and your custodian when you set up your account so you know exactly how much you can put into the account each year and when and how much you need to withdraw when the time comes.



To set up a self directed account, the first step would be to gather information about all the types of accounts from custodian company and then sit down with your accountant and / or financial advisor to find out which type of account best suits your needs. You may find that you want to roll over an existing account that you currently have into a self directed IRA. If you don’t have an existing account to roll over, you may want to start a new account with the basic $2000 annual contribution. Or you if you have a corporation or other type of company, you may want to open a simple IRA account that has much higher contribution limits. There are many different options and combinations of options, so please get with an expert for advice.



Let’s take a look at a typical scenario. Mr. & Mrs. Investor have worked quite a few years in corporate America and both have built up a sizable 401k account with their corporations. Both have socked away as much as they can into their accounts over the past 10 or so years and have about $50,000 each. As their real estate investing career is really taking off, they have just left their corporate jobs for good. They get a letter in the mail from the current company managing their 401k advising them that they need to roll their 401k account over from it’s current company and into another retirement account somewhere else.



Being astute real estate investors who have educated themselves on self directed IRA’s, they roll each of their 401k accounts over into a self directed IRA and now can direct how their money is invested. All profits made from their investments will go back into their retirement accounts and not into their own pockets, but they know they are passing on a few good real estate deals every year for lack of funds and while they don’t really need the income from these passed up deals today, if they utilized their 401k accounts to buy into a few of these deals, they sure could used the income in 20 or 30 years.



Mr. & Mrs. Investor also have formed a corporation to invest in their real estate to protect their assets from lawsuits and from taxes and their tax advisor tells they should also start a simple IRA plan within their company for each of them. Then they can contribute up to $7,000 each out of the salaries they receive from this company that reduces the income they report to the IRS by $7,000. Their company can then match up to 3% of their annual compensation.

So for example if they paid themselves a salary of $10,000 each from the company, they can take $7,000 of that each to contribute to their simple IRA and reduce their reported income by $7,000. Their company can then contributed up to 3% of their $10,000 salary or $300. So at the end of the first year, they will each have an account with $7,300 in it. At the end of year two they could each have $14,600 in their accounts, just from contributions and with no profits from investing the amounts.



Now Mr. Investor’s son, Investor Junior. He is working right along side mom and dad, he is doing well in real estate also and so has never really had a corporate job. He has a wife and kids and needs almost every dollar he makes from his investing to support his family, so he takes a different route and he starts a Roth IRA for himself and his wife. They each contribute only $3,000 to their IRAs and at the end of year one have 2 Roth IRA’s worth $3,000 each and at the end of year 2 worth $6,000 each if they make no investing profits. But they do have an advantage in that their Roth IRA’s were created with after tax dollars, so any profits they make are tax free with no taxed to be paid when they start taking distributions at age 59 ½. Please take note here for future examples that Investor Junior is related to Mr. Investor, but as he is from a previous marriage, he is only Mrs. Investor’s step-son and not actually related. We will look at this more in a minute.



Ok, now we know what a self directed IRA is and some basics of setting them up and getting initial funds into them. Now on to the fun stuff, let’s look at a few examples of how a self-directed account can be used!



After rolling over their 401k accounts Mr. Investor comes across a little house in his town that is in a nice rental neighborhood with an after repaired value of $80,000. It should rent for about $800 a month with maybe a little more if he gets a lease to own tenant to take it over. It needs about $10,000 in repairs: landscaping, painting, new carpet, and some minor handy man items. He can buy it for $40,000. He has enough income from other investments to live on for a while, so he decides to buy this house with his IRA account that he created by rolling over his 401k that has a current balance of $50,000.



He fills out all the proper forms and purchases this house in the name of his rolled over IRA. And immediately finds a lease to own buyer that pays his IRA $4,000 down as a non-refundable option fee. The buyer agrees to do the landscaping, painting, and handy man repairs if the IRA will pay $3,000 to replace the carpets. They are going to pay him $800 a month with $100 of that going toward their down payment when they get financed and cash him out. And about 6 months later his tenants are able to get their credit in line, get a loan and pay off their lease option. When they pay him off he will have earned $80,000 in proceeds from the sale, down payment and monthly credit toward down payment, plus $700 (the $800 lease payment less $100 rent credit) for 6 months for another $4,200, and has spent $40,000 to purchase and $3,000 on carpets. So his new balance in his roll over IRA after 6 months is $91,200 ($50,000 - $40,000 purchase - $3,000 for carpet + $4,000 option fee + $600 down payment credit from rents for 6 months + $4,200 in rent + $75,400 proceeds from sale). He almost doubled his account with one transaction.



Mr. Investor is very proud of this first deal and is discussing it with his advisors and thinking about trying to find two more similar deals. He is cautioned by his advisors that just like buying real estate in his personal name, buying real estate directly in his IRA name can be risky too. What happens if he has grown the account to $300,000 and he has one of his tenant get hurt in one of the houses owned by the IRA and they go to court and win a law suit, he could stand to loose the entire retirement account. So like Mr. Investor, before you purchase rental properties in the name of your IRA, you might also want to talk about the risks with your advisors and your custodian. But again this can get outside the scope of this article.



Investor Junior has his account with a paltry $3,000 in his account. He figures he can’t do much with his account, but has talked to his advisors and found that since he is Mrs. Investor’s step son and for purposes of the self directed IRA not related to her, that he might be able to borrow money from Mrs. Investor to do a deal. Any interest payments he pays to Mrs. Investors IRA for the loan of the money will go back into her IRA, but any profits he makes will be his to keep.



He then goes out and finds a killer deal but he has to act fast. There is a bank owned property listed for $30,000 that has an after repaired value of $80,000. There are quite a few buyers interested in the property. He made an offer that was full price and he told them he could close in 5 days. As all the other offers even though they all offered a little more than $30,000 all wanted 30 days to get their loans put together and Junior can close in 5 days, he gets the deal.



Investor Junior then goes to Mrs. Investor and strikes a deal with her. She can lend him the $30,000 to purchase the property plus another $15,000 for him to pay for the repairs out of her rolled over IRA. He will pay her the same fees he would have paid a hard money lender: 5 points and 15% interest and he will pay it all at once when he pays her off in about 6 months.

So they draw up the proper paper work and she pays the $30,000 for purchase and loans him $15,000. In the next two months he rehabs the house, gets a tenant in it and then at the end of month 4 he sells it to an out of state investor for $80,000 and pays off his loan from Mrs. Investor’s IRA.



Let’s look at their profits. Mrs. Investor’s IRA gets $45,000 back, plus 5 points or $2,250, plus 4 months of interest at 15% or $2,250 an now her balance is $54,500. Investor Junior spent $64,500 ($30,000 purchase, $15,000 rehab, $2,250 in points, and $2,250 in interest) and earned a profit of $15,500.



The next month Investor Junior’s wife and Mrs. Investor go out to look at a house. Mom is coaching her daughter-in-law as she did not grow up in real estate as Junior did. This is the deal they worked out. They found a house that was worth $130,000 that was in really bad shape, needing about $30,000 in repairs. The owner had died and the heirs were very motivated to get it sold and agreed they could let it go for $50,000 if they could sign a contract today. Mrs. Junior signed a contract to buy it from the seller’s with her IRA that if you remember only has $3,000 in it. She had her IRA wire a $1,000 earnest money deposit to the title company the next day, got the keys from the seller’s who were leaving town and made sure she had the right to assign the contract and she had 45 days to close on the contract. Plus she had a safety net with her mother in law. If she could not find another investor to assign her contract to, Mrs. Investor was going to buy it with her IRA for $50,000.



After getting all the contracts signed up, the next day Mrs. Junior got busy. She put a sign in the yard and got on the local investor chat room and posted the following post:



675 Mulberry Street.

3 bedrooms, 1 ½ bath, 1 car garage, full basement

After repair value $130,000

Needs $30,000 in repairs – nothing structural

Need cash buyer for $60,000

House will be open today at 5:30 pm, will take a cash buyer contract today!

Please call Mrs. Junior at 816-555-1212



She had 10 calls by noon, held the house open and had 5 investors show who she knew to be very active and one agreed to take over her contract at a price of $65,000. Remember there were 5 buyers there at 5:30 so they did get into a little bit of a bidding war. Everyone went to closing on their assigned day and Mrs. Junior ended up with a check for $15,000 going back to her IRA as her assignment fee. Now her account balance stands at $17,000 ($3,000 initial balance - $1000 EMD + $15,000 in assignment fee).



Now all these examples are fictitious and the deals are simplified and do not include holding costs and a few other fees, but you can see how utilizing a self directed account whether you start with a large balance or a small one can grow your retirement funds very quickly. You do need to keep in mind that all profits earned by the IRA, need to stay in the IRA and not go back into your personal or business accounts and to get advice from experts where you needed. It also helps if you have a non-related friend that you might borrow money from or lend money to or buy and sell houses between your IRA accounts.



There are quite a few more complicated scenarios, so do your homework on self directed IRAs as well as private lending. You may find that you can make a good return on your investment by being the bank for other investors letting them do all the hard work of hunting down houses, making repairs, dealing with tenants and the like and you just sit back and have your IRA collect the interest payments each month.













About the Author: Kim Tucker is the Executive Director of Mid-America Association of Real Estate Investors located on the web at www.MAREInet.com , an association for Networking and Education based in the Kansas City Metro. If you would like to learn more about investing in real estate, please visit this site and check out our numerous teleconferences on various subjects and check out our guru pages for informational articles and ebooks. Kim has been investing in real estate with her husband Donald since 2000 and primarily invest in fixer uppers, rehabs, and rental properties in Kansas City Missouri. Currently their company Tucker One Properties, Inc. offers turn key rentals, and fixer upper properties in the Kansas City Market. To learn more about Kansas City real estate visit them on the web at www.TuckerOneProperties.com or call their offices at 816-523-4400.



Reprint permission – this article may be reprinted on any REIA groups web site or newsletter as long as the about the author section at the end is included. Thanks - Kim

What sells a house

When selling a house it comes down to 4 things:
1. Price
2. Terms
3. Condition
4. Location

Carra Riley blogs about what you need to know and investors this means you as well as for home owners selling the house they live in. 

Review the other houses in the market and in today's economy you want to be the BEST house at the LOWEST or most average price.

You might be able to get a bit more with really great terms, but don't throw in terms that require the buyer to buy and then come out of pocket for something.  Today's buyers have funds to buy, but not usually for fix up afterward.

Read the full blog here.

Pre-Screening Sellers in Kansas City

“The best negotiating technique I can share with you is to always care the least about getting a deal. Sounds simple, and it is. I really haven’t read any books that impressed me much, and the fact of the matter really is, the less I want a house, the less I can get if for every time. I really do make offers that make me blush.” Direct quote from William Tingle’s Ultimate Sub-2 Guide Book.


When negotiating with a seller you want to find out why they are selling. Robert Shemin in every one of his presentation’s tells us he asks a seller no less than three times “Why are you selling?” His goal is to find out their motivation to see if there is potential for a good deal. If the seller is not motivated, there is no point in looking at the house, talking numbers, or making an offer.


Your first step in negotiating starts with the first phone call with the seller. You want to find out their story.


What is their motivation - why does the seller NEED to sell? If they tell you they have a new job, they are getting a divorce, home is in foreclosure, or they just inherited aunt Millie’s house, you may have a high degree of motivation. Where something like we would like to find a bigger house might have a lower motivation.


What is their urgency - how soon do they NEED to sell? Phrased a different way, but you are still asking why. If they tell you they need to start work in another state on Monday, they are motivated. If they tell you that their next house payment is due in 2 weeks and they have no money to pay it, they are motivated. If they tell you the house goes to foreclosure next Friday and they already moved out, then they are extremely motivated. But if they still need to find another house first, or if I can’t sell it within 30 days I am going to rent it out, their urgency is not quite where it needs to be for you to move.


What is their flexibility - will they consider any terms and how much cash do they need? William Tingle talks a lot about this in his negotiation strategies. Whether you would really buy on terms is really irrelevant at this point. But if the seller would be willing to take a promissory note for all or part of their equity they are very motivated. If they are willing to let you have it for what they owe and walk away, they are very motivated.

So let’s recap. In the initial conversation, find out why they are selling, how soon they need to sell, and their flexibility. Build rapport with them and work these questions into the conversation. Many times you might start with “tell me your situation” and let them talk and you shut up and take notes. A truly motivated seller will more than likely get through all three of these reasons along with their full sob story. The motivated seller will work to convince you to buy their house and with a few choice questions to prompt them will give you everything you need to move on to the next step which is talking about or looking at the house.


An unmotivated seller will not want to give you their name, will tell you they are calling a lot of investors, will not give you the address of the house, insist that you come look at the house first before you talk, want to understand what it is that you do before they tell you anything, get offended when you ask questions. You don’t have time to waste with people who don’t want to work with you. So politely thank them for calling and recommend to them to contact a realtor to help them sell their home.


A lot of new investors are terrified of talking with sellers. What should I say? I don’t like cold calling? Well first – put out marketing pieces to get the seller to call you. Just be sure that you actually answer the phone and if they must go to a voice mail be sure to call them back with in an hour or less, because the motivated seller is going to call the next investor on the next sign, the next newspaper ad, or one of the other many letters they received in the mail. Don’t loose out on the deal because you are afraid to answer the phone or call them back.


So I would suggest sitting down and writing out some questions. First find out who they are and how they found you – you want to know what marketing works. Then ask your why questions above to find out their motivation. If they are motivated then you can start asking questions to see if you might be able to put together a deal. Tell me about the house? What is the address? Is it vacant? Have you been trying to sell it long? Why didn’t it sell? Does it need any repairs? What do you owe on the property? Is your loan current? If not, how far are you behind? What are your monthly payments? What is the least amount you would take for the house?


William cautions to not discuss numbers or specifics on price until you know they are truly motivated. And the main reason for this is that while you are discovering their motivation, you are also building up the sellers motivation in their own mind. You are making them feel motivated. They may drop their price in the initial phone call several times from the beginning of the call to the end as their motivation builds up and yout don’t have to ask them to lower their price. And while you don’t really want to give them a number over the phone, you do want them to give you a number so you can determine if you want to take the time to view their house. If you are thinking $30,000 on the phone and they are thinking $60,000, then it probably is not worth your time viewing the property.


Many times in the initial “Tell me your situation” question your sellers will answer many of these questions for you before you ask. But take the time to write out what it is you need to know to make a decision so you have all your questions ready and then find a study buddy and practice screening each other. Then the next time you get a seller call you will be more comfortable. And if you screw up a call – so what! They don’t know you, and you had a great learning experience, and who knows . . . you might get a deal.


Ok, we know we have a very motivated seller on the phone. They are moving over the week end, they are have huge amount of equity in the house that they are willing to give you for a small note of $5,000 that you can pay to them over the next two years, they think the house needs paint and carpet, and can you come see their house this afternoon. If they are this motivated, you need to find a way to get in to see it as soon as you can. A very motivated seller will keep making calls until they get someone in their house who writes them a contract and solves their problems. And as a side note here – be sure to have your paperwork in the car so you can write a contract – if you do all this work negotiating them down on price and you don’t get the contract, the next investor might come in and sign up your deal while you are running home to get your paperwork.


So at the house, you meet them. Start right away and try to build a rapport with them. Find something you might have in common or something you know about that you can discuss with them. Do they go fishing, do they have a collection of something. Find something in the conversation or the house that you can relate to and bring them to their level. Make them feel like you are their friend.


Before you start taking numbers with them, ask to take a walk through the property. And yes please say “property”. You want to start detaching them from the property and as long as it is their house and home, they will still have attachment to it. As you walk through the property, let the homeowner tell you everything they would like, you might prompt them to show you things they think need repaired. Paul Well’s also recommends using the word “hmm” and “oh” a few times, especially when you might be looking at something more technical, like the inside of the furnace or taking the front cover off of the electric panel. Just be sure to have some good comeback if they ask you what’s the problem. This builds up the cost of repairs in the seller’s mind even if you really don’t have a clue and helps you lower the price.


After touring the home, if you have done your homework before hand, you have everything you need to start talking price: you know what the after repair value of the home is because you know the area home values, you know about what the home needs in repairs from walking through it, so you can figure out what a good number would be for you to make a deal. And you know what the seller wants to make a deal because you have been screening him all this time.

Now it is more of a matter of recapping what you know.


“Mr. Seller I understand that you need to move next week and want $40,000 for the house and you need $5,000 to pay for moving and the down payment on your new house. . . pause “Can we do any better than that?” At this point shut up and mentally count to 10 slowly to give them a chance to respond. The may say something just to fill the air and it might be a lower price or a negotiating point that you can work with.


“Mr. Seller, while you have a great house, we did note a lot of repairs that need to be made as we walked through it. If I can buy your house next week and pay you the $5,000 you need, do you think you might be able to take the other $35,000 in monthly payments?” This would take you from needing all $40,000 next week to just $5,000 and allow you to negotiate further on the rest of the payment in the form of the note: how long, what interest, etc and just saved you from needing to use your credit to get a loan with the bank.


At this point you have a great deal, and according to Lou Brown, when he gets a seller willing to take back a note, he just writes up the documents for as many years as he can in amortization and writes in zero percent interest, and only if the seller brings up interest do they even discuss it and he negotiates even more at this point. Lou further points out that once you have the transaction completed and you are making zero percent interest payments, to include a short note with every payment telling them should they ever need all their cash now, you will be able to pay them off for a 10% discount. In essence, you give them $5,000 up front and pay the remaining $35,000 in monthly installments, and then as you make payments, you ask the seller to discount your $35,000 note by 10% or $3,500 to pay it off early.


It might also be that the seller has some equity, but not much and is willing to sign their deed over to you right now before they get in the moving van and drive away. While they do have some equity, they don’t have enough to pay a realtor to sell the home, the house is going to foreclosure auction in a few days, and it needs repairs. They don’t have anything to loose at this point in signing the deed over to you and walking away with little to no money in their pocket, and if you can give them something for their troubles – say paying for the moving van and you will never hear from them again. It’s all in the motivation.



About the author. Kim Tucker has been investing in real estate with her husband Don in the Kansas City market for the past 8 years. They currently offer wholesale, rental, and rehabbed properties for sale in the area. Visit their web site at www.TuckerOneProperties.com to learn more.

Member Benefit: 75% off Premium Business Cards

We here at MAREI have been using Vista Print for our discount printing services.


From the basic card for FREE up to 250 to as detailed and personalized as you want front with a 75% discount, this is by far one of the cheapest ways to get cards.

Note on every order we have ever placed, we have never paid for express service and still get our business cards in about 5 days. If we order on Monday, they are usually here by Friday.

Use the links below to access these discounts.



Click for FREE Business Cards

Click for 75% off Premium Business Cards

Click for 50% off all Postcards

Click for 30 % off Letterhead & Brochures

Click for FREE Shipping on orders over $50

Networking Your Way to ______ Success!

This artcile was on the Real Estate Dispatch on October 5th and is addressing Networking for the Real Estate Investor.  But networking is networking and it will work for just about anyone.

Are you hiding behind your computer or are you out there? Lately there have been a number of articles touting the benefits of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and, yes, BiggerPockets. While those sites can be a great benefit to your business, they are no substitute for being ‘out there.’

Please read the full arcticle here.

Paying Down Credit Card Debt

Well it's a blog about a book club on personal finance, but it talks about the best ways to pay down credit card debt.

Three choices.

1.  Pay off the card with the highest interest rate - to pay the least in interest - before going to the next one.

2.  Pay off the card with the lowest balance, and then when it is paid, shift the payment money to the next card - pay off stuff faster.

3.  Pay off the card with the highest balance first - one maxed out card with a few others with small balances hurts your credit more.

Or combine strategies.

Read the pros and cons in the full article - click here.

Key Word Tools

When you are trying to bring your web site up in the search engine rankings it helps to use Key Words in Key Places.

For example

1.  Naming your website
2.  Naming pages on your website
3.  Sprinkled in the Copy throughout your web site

Or when promoting the web site with articles, blogs, press releases, using them with in the copy or in the name.

Two Tools

Google AdWords:  Key Word Tool:  https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Wordtracker FREE keyword suggestion tool:  http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

Find out what to do with key words at the October 2009 MAREI meeting.   

Bank Owned Properties

Are you making offers on Bank Owned Properties?

Then you need to read this article from Bob Toplikar

by Bob Toplikar. Some buyers lost a great deal a couple of weeks ago. There was a house in a nice neighborhood that was bank-owned. The house had two major roof leaks (sheetrock was falling off the ceiling in two rooms, exposing the floor joists above on the two story home.) The house was run down and needed quite a bit of work. But, in a neighborhood of houses selling in the mid $400’s, this house was priced at $270k.

Read full article on Bob's Blog

Networking at your REIA in the Kansas City Real Estate Market

Last month we discussed sending an email newsletter. As real estate investors or people who work with real estate investors, we are all in a situation where we need to learn how to market effectively.


This month I wanted to take a look at steps you can take to build your list of recipients for the email newsletter, and the best way I know of is to network at your local REIA (real estate investment association).


I suggest that we all take a little time and brush up on our networking skills. Throughout this article we are going to look at ways to make contact with potential customers, but we need to know what to do with them once we make contact, and that all rests in our ability to network. There are quite a few resources out there, a few you might consider include:


1. The Millionaire Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller

2. Positioning by Al Ries and Jack Trout

3. The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino

4. Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got by Jay Abraham

5. Go to Google.com and search for business networking for 100’s of Free Resources


After brushing up on our networking skills, we need to take a look at our Marketing Message we want to send to our potential customers. In every avenue of our marketing we need to present a clear and concise message that is consist.

Our message should contain:

1. Who we are and how to get in touch with us.

2. What we do for our customer or what we sell to our customer.

3. Our value proposition to our customer – what can we do for them.

4. Call to action, what we want them to do now – call us, email us, visit a web site.

5. Keep the target market in mind.


Here at MAREI or any REIA there are many different kind of businesses, but the mechanics will be the same pretty much across the board, just the product and target market will vary. Let’s use a wholesale investor as our example in this article, but remember with a little imagination, this example will work for a realtor, a lender, an accountant, etc.


Lets meet our wholesale investor: Joe Wholesaler. Joe has read up on networking and is ready to put together his Marketing Message. He has a bunch of houses to sell and more seller leads coming in every day, but he needs to find people to buy his houses. As he primarily has fixer upper houses and tenant occupied properties to sell, he determines that his Target Market is going to be other real estate investor. Real Estate Investors seem to need to buy fixer upper houses or properties with tenants in them.


With his Target Market decided, he puts together his Marketing Message:


1. I am Joe Wholesalers with Houses R Us and I can be reached at www.HousesRus.com or 1-800-for-HRus.

2. I sell fixer upper and rental properties wholesale

3. I have a large inventory and if you are an investor looking for a rehab or a cash flow property, then I will have a property that you need, and our inventory is always changing.

4. We offer a free newsletter monthly with our current inventory of houses and also a hot list the with the our newest properties available. Please visit our web site or call us to let us know your contact info so we can sell you your next rehab project or cash flow property.

Joe Wholesaler can now use these four items to create just about any type of marketing that he wants. (Not a wholesaler? Think for a few minutes how you can create the same 4 sentences to fit your business and target customer)

Joe decides to first start with a business card. He wants to create a simple uncluttered business card that he can hand out to potential investor buyers as he meets them. The more you clutter up a card the harder it is to read and understand. Joe decides to put who he is and his contact information on the front and then utilize the back of the card for his value proposition and call to action.

With his business cards created, Joe is ready to start networking. So he starts looking for places that he can go where he will meet a lot of investor buyers. He decides that groups that meet to talk about buying houses for fix up or rental might be where he needs to be, so he makes plans to attend and join the local real estate investment association and the landlord groups in his area. If he can find the time to attend at least one meeting of each a month, he should be able to network with a lot of potential buyers to add to his list.

Joe figures that if he joins two groups and spends at least an hour networking a month with each group either at their normal meetings or any special networking events they might have, he should be able to meet at least 24 new people a month who might either be a buyer for one of his properties or might know a person who would be interested in buying his properties. He figures that by going to the networking and spending about 5 minutes per person, he can use his newly found networking skills to collect their contact information and then follow up with them the next few days after the meeting.

Over the next few months, Joe attends meetings and works the room and ads about 25 new people to his database as potential buyers monthly, but he still wants more. He has noticed that some people are able to have a table at the meetings and they have a sign up form where people stop by and voluntarily provide their name and contact information either for some FREE report the person at the table is giving away or for a FREE prize to be awarded at the end of the night.

So the next month he spends some time creating a FREE report that he can email out to everyone who signs up at his table. He wants to provide something that would benefit everyone who registers with him and he realizes that he has been building quite a list of people who would be good contacts for the new investor building a power team. So he decides to give away a FREE email report that lists his favorite service providers: Mortgage Lenders, Rehab Lenders, Contractors, Dumpster Providers, etc.

Joe contacts the local association and reserves a table for about $30. Prints his marketing message on a small banner to put on the front of his table for about $50. Makes a sign asking people to drop a business card in the basket to sign up for Joe Wholesaler’s Personal Service Provider List. He also makes another sign asking people to sign up to receive his list of houses periodically. The people at the meeting are real estate investors after all and they want to buy houses, so they will probably sign up. And he prints up a bunch of copies of his list of houses for sale.

He goes to the meeting – one at each group and his is amazed. For a little under $100 he has acquired a table at each meeting for the month, and next month, it will be under $60 as he can reuse his signage. Everyone coming into the room stops by to see what he has to offer and he gets more than his normal 12 or 13 new contacts. And is able to set up times to show several of his properties in the next few days.

Let’s step back from Joe’s story a moment – what if I am not wholesaling houses, what else could I have people sign up for so I can get their contact information:

1. Attorneys –a free FSBO contract kit with basic forms.

2. Accountant – a quarterly newsletter with timely tax saving tips

3. Mortgage Broker – a monthly newsletter with latest on rates and loan programs

4. Realtor – a free quarterly list of all the Bank Owned Homes for sale in the area

5. Contractor – a referral list of other subcontractors

So after reserving a table for several months at the meetings, following up with everyone who signs up and making sure they get their free list and then adding them into the system to get email notices of his houses for sale, Joe notices something. People all are getting to know him by name, he is making appointments to show more houses, and the regulars a the meeting are introducing the new people to him. “Hey, you have got to meet Joe. He’s the guy with all the houses for sale and if you need to buy a house, you need to sign up for his newsletter.” Joe realizes that he has become the groups expert at providing wholesale houses and people are referring him out.


About a week later one of the association leaders, Suzie calls to see how things are going with him. She is doing her part in network for the REIA, following up with her customer Joe. Joe tells Susie how great it is having a table at the meetings and how many new buyers he is working with. Suzie then tells him that the REIA office gets several calls each month from people who had been at the last meeting and picked up Joes Card. But because Joe had been really busy at the time, they were going to call him the next day rather than try to talk to him at the meeting. On the way home they lost Joes card and can’t find him in the newsletter or on the web site, so could the she tell them how to get in touch with wholesale guy. Suzie further tells him that while there are a bunch of people at the meetings, there are still about ½ the membership that does not make it to the meetings all the time, but do read the newsletters or visit the web site. She suggest to Joe he might look at putting an ad into the monthly newsletter and on the web site so when people loose his business card, they can still find his contact information.

So Joe goes back to his office the next day and works up a business card ad for the newsletter and puts together the information he wants to put on the web site. He calls up places his ads and pays for 6 months. He figures he might as well try it as 6 months of ads in the newsletter and on the web site are still way less than advertising in the local paper and his message is reaching only people in the association or people reading the associations newsletter so they more than likely will be investor buyers – his target market. And asks the editors to call him about month 5 to see if he wants to renew his ad or change it.


So the next week when his ad comes out on the web site, he decides to check it out see what it looks like. While he is there he browses around and looks at other vendors ads and notices something; a lot of the vendors have a little notices that say “10% Discount for Members of the Group” or “FREE application for members of the group”. He thinks to himself, I have my FREE Joe Wholesaler’s Personal Service Provider List and I send out a FREE list of houses for sale, I could offer that free on the web site for members and when people who do not go to the meetings see my ad online, they will go to my web site to get my FREE report. So he calls up the web site editor and has his listing adjusted.

Then the next week the newsletter comes out and while he has glanced at the newsletter before, he had never sat down and read it from front to back. He knew everything he needed to know about the wholesale business and landlording and was not really wanting to learn more about how to do his business. He had just joined to get buyers, so he didn’t think he needed to actually read the newsletter.


As he went through he saw a great article on 1031 Exchange from the accountant he had met at the group and decided he should learn more about 1031 and call the accountant. There was an article from the property manager he had met at a meeting explaining how a Section 8 inspection works and he wanted to call the property manager to see if he might be interested in managing a few properties for some of the out of state investors that purchased his already rented properties. Joe thought to himself “Wow, I met these guys at the meetings and collected their business cards, but I didn’t think too much about them. But after reading their articles, I can see they really know what they are doing and I am intrigued and want to call them for more information. Maybe I should do something like this. Maybe I could come up with a great article about rehabbing or being a landlord and give myself more credibility.”


So he set to work and created a few articles to send over to the newsletter editors and web masters of the associations to see if they might publish them. One group would publish for free and the other group wanted a small fee. But in the scheme of things, if the article netted him just one more buyer that purchased just one more house, he would make a few thousand dollars and if he worked his business correctly, he should be able to sell that same person at least 2 or 3 houses every year, so what was a small fee to place the article in the newsletter with a small ad in the corner. Plus he could save the newsletters to go into his brag book that he used to build credibility with his buyers, sellers, and his private lenders he worked with.

Then the next month when his first article was to be in the newsletter, Joe opens it up and sees the monthly calendar and notices that there are outside networking groups and classes that some of the other vendors at the meetings are hosting. The realtor who sells bank owned properties at the meeting is holds a monthly class explaining the process of buying a bank owned property. The Rehab Lender and one of the Mortgage Brokers in the group have teamed up to offer a monthly class explaining financing to the new investors and offering a free loan application for attendees at the class. And the guy that he met that buys houses through Short Sales was holding a monthly networking lunch at an area diner for other people wanting to learn more about Short Sales. There were several other groups, and events, but when he saw the Short Sale group, he had to call to find out more, why would someone want to have a networking group and offer to answer questions for new people about short sales when they would eventually become competition.

So being the networking guy he is, Joe calls up Sammy Shortseller to find out why in the world Sammy would be hosting an Intro to Short Sales Networking Event every month. Sammy explains that a lot of new investors want to try out short sales, but don’t have the expertise to do them, so they are happy to team up with him and split the profits. He also finds that after one or two deals, many new investors move on to another form of investing and don’t really want to mess with the short sales any more, so they are happy to pass the lead on to Sammy. So he holds his networking group and answers basic questions to get these contacts and to partner on a few deals. And as an added bonus just a small few of them who are very dedicated and really want to know how to do a short sale, well they pay him to train them in the process.

“But Sammy,” Joe says “You are sill training your competition!” Sammy explains that there are a lot of potential short sales and there is no way he can get all of them, and many of his newly trained competitors just don’t have the ability to do all the deals they get, so they again refer them over to Sammy or partner with him if the numbers are too big and Sammy makes more money.

Joe starts thinking and then goes back over his leads he has had in the past week for sellers and the light bulb goes off. There are 4 leads for people who are in foreclosure, who owe more that he is willing to pay for the house, and might be a candidate for a short sale. He was just going to toss them in the old “round file”, but as Sammy’s networking event is the next day, he decides to take the leads and go visit Sammy’s event. He brings up the basic details of each of the 4 leads and Sammy explains basically what he would do with them and what kind of profit he thinks he might be able to make. Sammy offers to partner with Joe on the deal: 50/50 on the money needed to do the deal, Sammy would negotiate the short sale with the seller and the lenders, and Joe would market to his huge network of buyers that he has build over the past few months.


They agree and put the partnerships together, and in the next month are able to buy and sell 2 of the 4 deals. Both Sammy and Joe have made a few thousand more than they would have if they had not been able to get together. And this from leads that Joe was just going to throw away. After his second profit check, Joe has another light bulb moment. “What if I could have a networking event and get a few newbies who don’t know what to do with their deals or don’t have the money to do a deal who want to partner with me. I could do a one or two more deals a month and not really have to do too much more work.”

He keeps thinking. . . “What if I could offer a group to the new landlords in the group and answer basic questions about tenants, landlord rules, section 8 and the like. Maybe I could develop one or two new solid buyers every few months who would buy their first few houses from me and build a relationship where they continue to purchase houses from me for the next 10 years.” Joe is basically seeing dollar signs rolling through his head at this moment.

So he contacts the diner in the area where most of his fixer upper houses and rentals are located. Could he bring in a group of 5 to 10 people once or twice a month for breakfast and take over the back one or two tables? They are happy for the extra business as it is a rather slow time for them. He then sends out an email blast to all of his contacts to announce he new landlord breakfast networking event. He invites everyone to attend and to forward the email to anyone new to landlording who might have questions. He also has the REIA post on their calendar and sends in an announcement to the local real estate paper as their calendar is free as space permits.

Then he does the same thing with another diner in an area only this time for lunch. He plans on inviting in new investors to learn about finding motivated sellers and to answer their basic questions on marketing, negotiating, contracts and more. The plan being that they will partner with him on their first few deals.

After a few months of holding his networking breakfast and lunch, Susie the leader of the REIA stops Joe at a meeting and asks, “You know Joe, we are looking for someone to help teach a class or two each quarter. Would you be interested in helping us with a class on effective landlording and one on finding motivated sellers? It does not pay much, but you will get a lot of FREE press when you teach the class. We announce the class in the newsletter, on the web site, and in the local papers and we also mention who is teaching, what their expertise is, and how to get in touch with them.” Joe thinks to himself, I can spend 4 hours each teaching a class once every 4 months and get my Marketing Message included in all the announcements for the class, get new students in my class who might buy houses from me or partner with me on their first deals. I can do more deals with less effort as my Target Market will be coming to me and my potential student partners will be brining me deals. What a great idea.


And Susie thinks she is getting a great deal as well, she leaned at her national networking event for association leaders that another group in another state was offering similar classes so their members could get a special certification. This other groups training program was so effective that the local housing court required violators to join the association and attend their certification classes. Susie thought this would be very good public relations for her association as the local paper was printing so many negative stories about real estate investors, landlords, and mortgage fraud. If she could get a successful certification program off the ground at her association, then she could get good public relation stories into the area newspapers, get more members attending the meetings, and find more new investor buyers for Joe’s houses, more seller’s who would find Sammie Shortseller to buy their houses in foreclosure, more investors that needed realtors, lenders, attorneys, accountants, contractors, etc. and everyone would be networking their way to their own profit.


Ok, so this story is a little corny, but I think you get the point. If you are a member of an association like MAREI, you can market and grow your business in several ways:

1. “Working the room” at events with business cards

2. Vendor Tables at the meetings

3. Ads in the newsletter or on the web site

4. Writing how to or inspirational stories for the web site and newsletter


5. Offering discounts to members

6. Hosting networking events

7. Teaching classes

8. And using each of these strategies, grow your database of potential customers that you can direct market via email, regular mail, fax, or phone.


And if you are really new and not in a position to be looking for customers yet, using all of these same steps from the other side of the table will help you get educated enough so you can take you first steps as a real estate investor.


Collect the business cards and find out what people do, these are the people that you will need to create your own power team that all the guru’s teach you to form. Talk to all the vendors at the meeting and get to know them, you may not be ready for a lender, attorney or accountant today, but you may need their services in the future, and being able to call them up as a person they know could save you money. Read the articles in the newsletter and on the web site, you might learn something and look for discounts for members in all the advertising. Attend as many of the networking events as you can as they are usually free . Participate and ask questions – this will be some of the best free training you will get. And when the association does offer classes for a fee or if they do have a certification program, be sure to make use of the service. You never know when the certification from and the ethics associated with the REIA might help you get a deal.


So if you have a marketing message you want to get out to the investor members of MAREI, please go to www.MAREInet.com and click on advertising and click on the brochure links at the bottom.


And new members, be sure to utilize all your membership has to offer to give your real estate investing career a jump start. Please go to www.MAREInet.com and click on Membership to view a brochure listing many of your benefits.


About the Author: Kim Tucker and her husband Don have bought and sold or rented over 100 houses. Their first 3 years were spend purchasing primarily bank owned properties to rehab and retail, and currently are managing an inventory of signle family rental homes while wholesaling one or two houses a month. See their current inventory for sale at http://www.tuckeroneproperties.com/ .