Re: “….and then the whole building started to shake.”

301-881-5541
Washington REIA Network, President
Profitable Property, Founder

P.S.  The Rehab Immersion Class we announced at WREIA last month will start soon.  We have found our subject property and are about to start the renovation process.  There are now only two (2) open spots for you and a partner.  Space is limited to 12 students.  If you are looking for an intimate and hands-on setting to learn the details of the renovation process – this is perfect for you.  Don’t miss this chance to get some real-world experience.  If you are interested in joining us and claiming the last open spots, simply call the office and let us know.

301-881-5541
Washington REIA Network, President
Profitable Property, Founder

P.S.  The Rehab Immersion Class we announced at WREIA last month will start soon.  We have found our subject property and are about to start the renovation process.  There are now only two (2) open spots for you and a partner.  Space is limited to 12 students.  If you are looking for an intimate and hands-on setting to learn the details of the renovation process – this is perfect for you.  Don’t miss this chance to get some real-world experience.  If you are interested in joining us and claiming the last open spots, simply call the office and let us know.

Having spent the past 22 years working in the Washington residential real estate industry I’ve been through quite a number of house price scenarios such as appreciation, contraction and stagnant growth. And the past six months has got me thinking – are we about to enter another phase – Deflation?

Why I believe deflation is likely

Put simply, economists define deflation as a reduction of prices in all sectors of the economy.  There has certainly been a falling off in commodity prices over the past six months, as well as a huge drop in oil prices and the contraction of the Chinese economy.

But isn’t falling prices a good thing?

On the surface, deflation seems to be a good thing since more people have more money to spend.  But actually, in times of deflation our economy starts to shrink.

Take the example of gas prices. I did not believe I would ever see gas prices at the pump for less than $2.00 a gallon in my lifetime again and, like most people, I’m delighted to see how little it costs to fill up the auto. It gives me more money to spend on other products and services.

But give it a few months and as deflation starts to take hold companies will stop hiring, employees get laid off, credit becomes more difficult to obtain and consumers understandably start saving their cash for a rainy day. In effect, low prices can cascade into a full-blown economic nightmare.

But the dollar is going up in value

Sure, as the dollar rises it gives consumers more purchasing power. But it also creates an incentive to save cash rather than spend or invest it in goods and services.  If the consumer stops spending money, businesses stop investing, banks stop lending, and our economy shrinks.  This is the exactly the situation Japan has been in for the past two decades – and it still doesn’t look like their difficulties are going to be solved anytime soon.

Real Estate indicators of deflation

In recent weeks I’ve been receiving lots of e-mails with headings in the subject line such as:

•  New Lower Price on Colonial in Rockville!
• Agent Bonus if Contract by Valentine’s Day!
• Price Reduction on Luxury Condo in Northwest!

This sounds like desperation to sell. Certainly when I renovate a home I can’t afford to offer huge reductions. Instead I choose to work with the first buyer that expresses interest in the home and I have to be prepared to be flexible on price adjustments and offer terms. My analysis has to be precise every time and based on conservative estimates of value and future growth of the asset.

How does this affect you?

If you’re considering selling a piece of real estate then now is the time to do so. Even if we don’t actually enter a time of deflation, prices may remain stagnant for at least the next five years.

History – and experience – has taught me not to be ostrich-like and stick my head in the sand when the evidence is all around me. Because of this I have put measures in place to protect my business and my assets if deflation rears its ugly head in the very near future. You should certainly think about doing this too.

Cash is King in deflationary times as the dollar increases in value.  This makes NOW the best time for selling real estate.

Make this year a great year for your business!

John Peterson

301-881-5541
Washington REIA Network, President
Profitable Property, Founder

We were out at a current renovation in Silver Spring on the coldest morning of the year so far…..

It was too cold to make a video outside – we were literally shaking – so we stepped inside out of the wind.  You may hear a little work being done in the background.

Enjoy!

Attending WREIA meetings is a great way to network with other successful people and build your belief that this business will be profitable for you as well.

Save a few dollars and reserve your seat early. Come join us at WREIA on Jan. 18th. It will be a great way to start the year, get you motivated, and get a jump start on 2016.

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Reserve your seat for the first 2016 WREIA meeting Here.

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Make this year a great year for your business!

John Peterson

301-881-5541
Washington REIA Network, President
Profitable Property, Founder

You just never know when your time may come – but you need to be ready when it does.

For a lot of us, we look around and see a lot of people having success, and it can be frustrating.  We wonder quietly to ourselves “When will it be my time?”

For David Tolley his time came in December of 1985 at a taping of the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

Johnny Carson had a guest, a classical pianist, who cancelled at the last moment after he slammed his fingers in a car door.

Johnny turns to the audience and asks if anyone in the audience can play.  More specifically, he asks if anyone has played for 5 years or more.

David Tolley was ready and raised his hand, rather excitedly.

If you have put in the time and work, learning, studying and taking classes – your time will come.

Be ready.

 SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT

I might add that attending WREIA meetings is a great way to network with other successful people and build your belief that this business will be profitable for you as well.

Save a few dollars and reserve your seat early.  Then, come join us at WREIA on Jan. 18th. It will be a great way to start the year, get you motivated, and get a jump start on 2016.

*********

Reserve your seat for the first 2016 WREIA meeting Here.

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Make this year a great year for your business!

John Peterson

301-881-5541
Washington REIA Network, President
Profitable Property, Founder

Re:Global Slowdown A Concern?

Bloomberg just posted an article that sums up the outlook for the world economy in 2016.

One of the lines that will reach out and grab you comes right at the beginning of the article posted at Bloomberg. 

“The global economy will sputter along this year…”

What does that mean for you working here in the DC area?

Just like our local markets can vary widely, so can the economies of various countries around the world.

China is slowing down – which only means they are not growing as fast.  Brazil and Russia are actually contracting – not so good.

But here in the U.S. things are starting to get going again.  Slowly.

Personally, I like that.  It keeps things going, but allows for us to step in and help people from time to time with their properties.  We can help by speeding up what could be a long sales process for a seller.

When people are unsure about the future, we can step in and give them a definitive number today.  That gives people OPTIONS.  Don’t underestimate the power of giving a property owner a choice of what they can do.

What we do is really simple.  We give people access to a wholesale real estate market.  Most people don’t even realize it exists until they hear from us.

A slowdown across the world economies is fine.  It makes for great headlines if you want to make yourself depressed and look for the problems someone might face if they are the head of an international conglomerate of companies.

However, as a BUYER of properties, it should get you excited.  The daily headlines can actually help you when you are working with sellers.

Warren Buffet is a great example of someone who does not lose their mind when things slow down and get a little volatile.  He sees value, and has no problem stepping in and buying stocks or sometimes entire companies.

You should do the same thing.  As things slow down around the world, look around in your backyard right here in the DC area.  Can you find individual properties with value built in?  Maybe you can improve a property and create value?  Maybe you can do both?

At our WREIA meeting this month we are going to focus on 3 areas.  These three areas – if you FOCUS –  can have massive results.

You can pick one if you are just getting started or work on all three if you are experienced.

We live in a remarkable area when it comes to housing.  We have a very resilient market that very few people outside of the DC Metro area can appreciate.  Our heavy reliance on the government has been bolstered by the technology and biotech companies that have moved in over the last couple of decades.

Put down the articles about a global slowdown.  You should be as excited as I am about this year and all that it offers us!

Make this year a great year for your business!

In this video John talks a little more about the upcoming WREIA meeting and invites you to join us for the last meeting of 2015.

WREIA December Meeting – “Panel Discussion with End Of The Year Wrap-up. ”

You can reserve your seat – by clicking here.

87 Million Millennials.  That’s a pretty big market.

But they are not an easy crowd to reach.

At least, that’s what they want you to think.

The reality is – to find them you simply need to go where they are “hanging out”.

And for the most part, they are hiding EVERYWHERE.

This crowd can be found in little nooks and crevices all over the DC area. But marketing to them can be a real challenge.

Most of them couldn’t tell you what is on the billboard just around the corner from their house.  But they can certainly tell you what’s at the top of their Instagram, Facebook or Twitter feed this morning.

I found an interesting article on the increasing number of home sales that are coming from the Millennial crowd.  You can find it at http://www.realtytoday.com/articles/56208/20151127/real-estate-housing-market-increasing-national-sales-came-millenials.htm

I suggest that if you want to reach this crowd and understand where they are coming from start with understanding how their buyer profile is different from Generation X.

Their college debt load is higher because most of them rode out the Great Recession by staying in school getting better “qualified” for when they finally entered the job market.

Across the country, many recent graduates have met a challenging job market. But – here in the DC area, things are a bit different.  Many of the millennial crowd are finding a robust job market, and the best in their field are still being heavily courted by head hunters and placement professionals in the most competitive fields.

The DC job market has been very kind to technology, life sciences and the evergreen government support services.  When it comes to the highly educated, Forbes still rates DC as the top ranked city for competitiveness – source: http://www.realtytoday.com/articles/56208/20151127/real-estate-housing-market-increasing-national-sales-came-millenials.htm

Here is a secret  – The DC real estate market is alive and well.

Remember – The Last WREIA Meeting of the year is on Dec. 7th!  

Make this week a great week for your business!

What does retirement mean to you?

Does it seem a long way off, or is it right around the corner?

Odds are wherever you are in your career there will be at least one actionable item you can take away from the meeting that will help you move forward.

Check out the video above and listen in as I go into a little more detail about what we will be covering at our Oct. WREIA meeting on Monday night.

I hope to see you there!

John

Re: Risk

“That’s too risky.”

I hear it all the time.

When people ask what I do for a living some people respond by telling me about a cousin or brother-in-law who either “lost” a ton of money in real estate, or recently made a fortune.

It never fails though – if they have the distant cousin who “lost it all” they have formed an opinion that buying a home, renovating it and selling it at a profit is just “too risky”.

I usually just smile and listen to their story.  Here is reality from my perspective and how I would like to respond:

“Of course my business is risky. So is yours. I have just learned to reduce the trust the process and focus on doing good work and helping other people.”

When I say “your business” it may be that you own a small business like I do.  You get up everyday and you are in charge of how you spend your time and how you respond to the challenges that may come.

Your business may mean that you work for someone else.  You get a paycheck every other Friday.  Your job may be your business.  It’s how you make a living.

Your job may have risks as well.  You could be going to work at a job you don’t really care for, or working with people you would never associate with outside of work.  That causes a tremendous amount of stress.  Some people don’t feel fulfilled by their work – but they say to themselves “Hey. It’s a check.”

Few people want to admit but their job may not be all that secure.  Millions of people learned that lesson the hard way in our last recession.  Thankfully, we are through that era as a broader economy.  Sociologists are telling us that many of the people that were laid off and have gotten back to work don’t seem to be as happy working today. Economists are telling us that those people who lost their jobs are still not earning as much as they were in the early and mid 2000’s.

For those people that are back to work, they are getting a check, but something is still missing.  Just having a job sometimes isn’t enough.  Sometimes people want a purpose as well.

I think that is one of the reasons we as a country are having such a surge in entrepreneurship.

I am a big fan of choosing your own destiny.  By that I mean – planning and mapping out where you want to be – as opposed to being at the mercy of your boss’ plans for you.

If you started working 5 or 10 or even 20 years ago – are you where you hoped you would be in your career today?

Did you have bigger plans at the beginning and over time slowly lost your dreams as they got mixed in with the challenges of everyday life?

What if you could turn it around and start enjoying your work more?

I hope you come and join all of our WREIA members are our meeting this Monday. I want to share a plan that we have devised, utilized and shared with other students.  Some of those students have gone on to mini-retirements of their own.  They checked out of the workplace and are enjoying their life on their own terms.

One of the biggest risks for all of us is that we spend all our time and energy living a life that is not rewarding, unfulfilled, and suddenly realize that we have put all our  effort into building another persons dreams – and not focusing on our own future.

Join us on Monday and take away a few tools and exercises you can use to get focused and get determined.  Just being at WREIA on Monday and taking action on what you learn will help you finish this year strong and start 2016 with passion.

Remember – We are in the home stretch of 2015:

Make this week a great week for your business!