Everyone agrees that Conrad Hilton built a successful hotel brand. He owned more than 188 hotels across the country, and the Hilton line of hotels have set the standard for high end hotels around the world.

But did you know early in his career, Conrad lost his best hotels, and was pushed to the edge of bankruptcy?  Through the process, he was actually re-hired to manage his own hotels, and eventually went on to purchase them – again.

Sound familiar?  Have some business owners struggled over the last few years?

A businessman who survived and thrived during a challenging economic time can teach us a few things about our own business in 2012.

• Don’t ever quit. Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit. -Conrad Hilton

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The spring bounce numbers are finally rolling in.  Articles about the strength of the housing this time of year always amuse me.

Reporters can usually make a case for a strong market, a weak market, or whatever market they believe is happening.  They compare the housing starts, the number of 30, 60 or 90 day lates, or whatever other metric they like, and then compare them to a year ago, or even 5 years ago.

The problem is, we have had so many issues over the last few years, robo-signing, massive bank settlements, historic foreclosure rates, choppy jobs reports, and the list goes on.  If they compare any report from any period of time, many reporters (and most politicians) will make a case for whatever they believe is happening in the market.

I just read a confusing article on Bloomberg.  It’s posted at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-12/housing-rebound-signaled-as-banks-resume-foreclosures-mortgages.html

The title to the article notes a “housing rebound signaled”, however the article made me wonder “What rebound signals are they talking about?”

Let me explain –

“Rebound” Point #1 – Foreclosures up
The article states that repossession of homes are down, but in some states they are up dramatically. “Foreclosure starts — notices of default or scheduled auctions — increased in 31 states in the second quarter from a year earlier.”

“Rebound” Point #2 – Process taking longer
In the next paragraph, we see that the process is also taking longer. “The foreclosure process in the U.S. increased to an average of 378 days in the second quarter, the highest in records dating back to 2007.”

“Rebound” Point #3 – Down, then Up
But here is where I got confused for yet another moment. Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics Inc., predicts that home prices will decline 1 percent in 2012 and then increase by 1 percent in 2013.

So let me get this straight – default notices are up in 31 states, and the process is taking over a year to complete – on average.  That means that a year from now that house may finally hit the market.  On average.  Mr. Zandi, why will prices go up when these houses finally hit the market?

Since last year, we have been telling you in our emails and at our WREIA meetings, that we still have 3-5 years of this housing quagmire.  I think we still have 2-4 years of this choppy sideways action in the housing markets.  Do you begin to agree when you dig a little deeper than the headlines?

The point I am trying to make is – Market confusion will create opportunity.  And my forecast for the next few years is red hot with opportunity.

Even today, we still have record low interest rates, but very few people have been able to qualify.  For many people, after 5 years of falling prices they are now underwater on their homes!  They want to move up, move down, or move to a new location where they may find a better job – but they can’t.

That is why you need to join us next Monday at WREIA.

You should know more about Wholesale Lease Options. 

That is the topic at WREIA Network in July.  We will be talking about a match-making service that some property owners would like to know more about – because it will help them solve their problems.

Our speaker, Joe McCall knows how to solve these specific problems, and is really good at what he does.  Joe finds people that want to move, but for a variety of reasons, they choose to lease their property instead of sell.  Other people want to move into that same property, but can’t qualify, yet. So, he puts these two parties together, and Shazam!, problem solved.   By the way, Joe makes a nice profit for providing the service – with very little risk.

There it was – A giant billboard on the side of I-95.  But this message was different, and it made me laugh.

On April 6th, 2009 Tom Feltenstein posted a 50 foot billboard near Palm Beach Airport reading “Have Maid, Have Money, Would Love a Honey.”

The sign was effective and by December of 2009, Tom was married.  Tom describes himself as a “lead marketing strategist” so I found something interesting about their story. Tom and his new wife Cindy met while they were both walking their dogs.  She never saw the billboard.

Their story was captured on an Orlando news channel is posted on YouTube here:

There is an important business lesson for us in this story.  When you start to market yourself, your confidence will improve and new opportunities will start to appear from out of nowhere. If you get creative in the process, there is an even better chance that your message will be noticed by your market.

Some people were upset when they saw Tom’s sign. He was called a variety of names (many of which I cannot print here) – but that isn’t what Tom focused on.  Within a few days, he received over 100 letters from women who wanted to meet with him.

The same things happen in our business.  People get upset that we send them letters, or give them a call about selling their property.  I even have people who get upset when I call them back – AFTER THEY CALL ME!

Some of our WREIA members are getting their phone to ring by offering services that home sellers want.  It’s that simple.  You should offer a service to someone and if they want to know more, they should be able to reach you easily and quickly.

That is the topic we are going to be discussing this month at WREIA Network.  We will be talking about a service that some property owners would like to know more about – because it helps them solve their problems.

Our speaker, Joe McCall will be talking about “Wholesale Lease Options”.

Joe McCall has been investing in real estate for over 7 years.  But like a lot of us here in the DC area, he started his career in another field.  His background and education is in Civil Engineering.  Before he started working on his real estate investing business full-time about 5 years ago, he had worked for several large engineering & construction companies all around the country.

Joe admits that he has tried tons of different investing strategies and has made almost every mistake there is to make.  But his favorite two strategies have always been Lease Options & Wholesaling.  A few years ago when he got tired of spending a fortune marketing every month for his traditional wholesaling business, and throwing away many leads from unmotivated sellers, he knew there had to be a better way!

That’s when he discovered the special niche he calls “Wholesaling Lease Options”.  As soon as he started implementing his simple, unique system, within 3 months his part-time income surpassed his full-time income.  Needless to say, he quickly left his cubicle job and has never looked back.

And get this – he’s still working part-time!  Joe has a system where he literally outsources 80% of his business and spends very little money in marketing.  Joe and his team of Virtual Assistants wholesale 2-4 lease options a month, while Joe profits an average of $5,000 on each deal – all while working 10-15 hours a week!

Join us this month at WREIA as Joe covers a variety of topics, including:

• Understanding how Lease Options really are supposed to work.
• How to make money with seller leads that have no equity & are not financially distressed.
• How to “Flip” lease option contracts & make a quick $3,000 – $5,000 each time.
• Why this is probably one of the BEST strategies for this market right now.
• Learn  the  BEST  marketing  practices  working  in  TODAY’s  market  for  finding  Sellers  and Tenant-Buyers.
• Give a seller exactly what they want. Never negotiate with another seller again.
• How  to  truly  “Virtually”  Wholesale  Lease  Options  anywhere  in  the  country  from  your  lap-­top and cell phone.
• How to effectively use Virtual Assistants to run your business.

At WREIA, twice a year we introduce you to a guest speaker from outside our local area.  This is going to be your chance to learn about a simple process – that if you implement properly – can have an enormous impact on your supply of leads.

So, if you need some advice on marrying a millionaire, Tom Feltenstein put up a billboard and literally wrote the book on it.

But if you need a fresh supply of leads, register early for next Monday at WREIA.

Let me know how I can help you,

John Peterson