There are a lot of skills you need to master in order to run a successful real estate investing business.  Perhaps the biggest skill you MUST master is the ability to make mistakes, correct them quickly, and move on.  Managing your mistakes (you will make some at some point) must be learned early in your career.

Management of people, process and a slew of various products.   It all combines and the outcome can be either terrific – or costly and terrifying when done wrong.

People will include the various contractors who help renovate the home, but don’t forget the inspectors from the county, state, and the home inspector that may recommend other more specialized inspectors to follow up on their work.   It’s a lot of people focused on  finding defects, which is  easy to do in older homes.

Process involves keeping everything on track and moving forward.  Nothing drives me crazy like having a foot of snow on the ground and being trapped inside for a week or more.  Knowing that our projects are out there without anyone paying attention to them, nothing getting done, and everything just sitting at a standstill – it just makes my skin crawl.

Aside from keeping things moving though, you job is also to make sure things are happening in a logical and thought through way.  Painting walls is silly if you are going to tear them down to open up a room – yet I see new renovators do this more often that you might believe.

And the long list of projects that go into a renovation project?  Hundreds of different pieces. All of it chosen and installed by dozens of people from various backgrounds.  It’s an amazing moment when a project is done and it all comes together nicely.  It’s a disaster if you don’t keep a close eye on things and you get a “mish/mash” of various styles and skills.

This month at our monthly WREIA meeting you will have a chance to listen and talk with some of the areas top renovators.  These people actually make a living going through the process we just described.  They keep track of all the people, choose all the products and keep everything moving in a logical process.

Everyone brings their own experience to this business.  You will too.  As your business grows, you will make your own process and choose your own products.  A great short cut to growing your business faster is to simply hear what these experienced business people are doing correctly, and learn from their mistakes as well.

Mistakes – we all make them.  It’s how you handle them that makes the difference in your ultimate success or failure.   The easiest thing you can do Monday night is ask questions, listen and learn from other peoples successes and failures. We say it all the time – “Sometimes avoiding a mistake could save you thousands of dollars.”

Reserve your seat and join us on Monday night at our May WREIA meeting.

If you have attended a wedding or other social event lately, you know that the roundtable setting makes it pretty easy to get to know someone new. Especially if the music isn’t playing too loud.

I was sitting at a wedding table recently and one of the gentlemen we were sitting with told us a little story about King Arthur and why he created a roundtable system for all of his Barons and Knights to meet and hold discussions.

King Arthur knew that his various Knights would not enjoy being set at a lower “station” than the Knight next to him. In fact, at one of his Christmas or Yuletide celebrations a riot broke out, based in part on the social seating at the event. So rather than have a head or foot of a table, he used round tables for seating at his future events.

Problem solved. No more riots at Christmas parties.

Roundtable Discussion at WREIA This Month

We have never had a riot at a WREIA meeting, but we will be having a round table discussion at WREIA this month – and you are welcome to join us.

Roundtable discussions are based on the idea that everyone is equal, and can bring new and fresh ideas to the topic of discussion. In modern times we have a Mastermind and a Board of Directors meeting based on this same concept. Everyone can bring new ideas to the discussion, and the combined effort should bring new proposals and direction to the effort.

You can reserve a seat at WREIA this month by clicking Here or at
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/wreia-may-meeting-roundtable-success-stories-and-failures-live-in-bethesda-mon-518-630-pm-tickets-16899097656?aff=wreia

Last month we had a local attorney come and share with us various strategies for financing properties in the DC area. This month, we are taking it a bit closer to home and bringing some of our WREIA members to the front of the room to discuss recent successes – and failures.

Just like King Arthurs court, no matter how long you have been in this business, you can learn a lot from these roundtable discussions. The What, How’s and Why’s of someone else’s everyday business can spark an idea for YOUR business and maybe help you get back on track. And just like King Arthur, we will be discussing what is working right along side what is NOT working in our local area. This will give you some things to focus on, as well as some pitfalls to avoid.

You can leave your 15th century costumes at home, but come on out and join us this next Monday at our WREIA May meeting.

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Reserve your seat for the May 2015 WREIA meeting Here.

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I hope to see you at our next WREIA meeting just one week away on May 18th.

John Peterson

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

I was more than a little surprised when I just read that the best investment in the world today is….

“Beachfront huts in Somalia.”

No, I’m not kidding.  This conclusion is according to Hans Rosling, “a Swedish public health professor and data visualisation pioneer.”

You can find the Financial Times article posted here at : http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/c225ddde-d85b-11e4-ba53-00144feab7de.html

The logical conclusion is derived from number crunching the demographic changes taking place across the globe.  As some countries move from near poverty conditions toward middle class, massive shifts are taking place.  Beachfront locations like those in Somalia are well positioned to support the leisure industry for those in the Middle East and Asian countries.

So what does that have to do with our local activity?  Demographic changes can take place on a macro level, like described in the article, but that can also be drilled down on a local level as well.

If you find an area where people want to be first, then it makes the additional risks associated with the deal much easier to calculate.  Location takes into account the local schools, access to public transportation, access to entertainment and retail stores.

Greater New York City, with over 21 Million people is a great example.  But even within the large metro area there are areas where home prices boggle my mind.  $30 Million for an apartment is not unheard of.  A recent article bluntly stated that if you are searching for a home in NYC, you don’t get much until you pony up $10 million or more.

But let’s get back to Metro DC and our various markets.  Each county has actually been fractured into many different sub markets – with prices varying greatly from one end of a county to another.

Now think for a second – What would be the proper way to structure a deal for houses or condos priced under $100k?  Would an all cash deal be best?  Or maybe owner financing is an option?

What about for a $2 Million estate property in Loudoun County?  Could you get the owner to carry back a $500k second mortgage for a few years?

If any of those questions are a little confusing, or if you don’t even know what the differences in the offers may be, WREIA this month will help you.  Our speaker is going to talk about how to structure your offers – creatively – so you have a shot at them being accepted.

Just this week one of our WREIA members was at a property and the owner actually said “We are open to a little creativity if it means we can get a little more for the place.  We aren’t really in that big of a hurry.”

When was the last time you had a seller tell you that?  Take your time and be creative?!!  It’s the conversations like that that I dream about.

Now, we are not going to talking about how you can buy beachfront property in Somalia next Monday at WREIA.   But if you have been wondering how you can do more deals in the DC area this year, may I suggest that you add a little creativity to the process?

This month at WREIA we have a guest speaker – who is a local Bethesda attorney – coming to talk about creative offers  that work really well for renovators and rehabbers as well as landlords.  It’s a great topic for people who take on bigger projects that may involve a lot of liability, many different key players, and projected profits that need to be protected along the way.

I hope you can join us next Monday at WREIA.

I hope to see you at our next WREIA meeting just one week away on April 20th.

John Peterson

Tuesday 9:15 AM
Re: The First Step To Doubling Your Business

The first step to doubling your business is – CLARITY.

Get clear on what it is that you want to double. Sounds simple, but it really is a huge step toward accomplishing your goal.

Ask yourself this simple question:

“Do I want to do more transactions, or do I want to do larger transactions?”

Think about that for a second. If you are currently doing 2 transactions every year, but making a profit of 50k on each deal, would it be a big help to grow your business to 4 deals every year? Of course.

On the other hand, if you move your business from making 50k on each deal to 100k – haven’t you also doubled your business?

Let me tell you, one of these is much easier on your time. I have seen it a few times through the years. An investor thinks that they are growing their business just because they are “doing more deals”.

In reality, they are slowly going broke. Their deals have gotten so thin that there is little or no profit at the end of the day.

Those are the people that look terribly busy, but secretly they are losing money on each deal. They create so much overhead in the form of employees, office space and other obligations that they are now obligated to feed their “monster.”

Next Monday at our WREIA meeting we are going to talk about the most important steps that you can take to double your business. I am going to give you some concrete steps that I took when I wanted my business to grow.

By the way, I know these steps reap huge rewards. That time of focus and emphasis on growth is still reaping dividends 10 and 15 years after I put these steps into action.

There were strategies I had to put in place when I wanted to grow my business. There were also mistakes that slowed me down. I want to share both the good and the bad with you at our next WREIA meeting on March 23rd.

I’m going to focus in on the top things that helped me grow from 5 to 10 deals and then again when I wanted to grow from 15 to 30 transactions in a year. These were two very different stages of my business – and required bringing different tools and strategies to the “business growth” project.

Do you want to grow your business and do more? If you do, then come out and join all of us at the next WREIA meeting next Monday.

March 23rd. Put it on your calendar.

Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you grow your business.

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Reserve your seat for the March 2015 WREIA meeting Here.

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That’s all for now.

I hope I see you in a little less than a week on Monday, March 23rd at WREIA.

John Peterson

301-881-5541

Washington REIA Network, President

Profitable Property, Founder

Thursday 10AM
Re: How I Doubled My Business
 

That’s all for now.

I hope I see you in about 10 days on Monday, March 23rd at WREIA.

John Peterson

301-881-5541

Washington REIA Network, President

Profitable Property, Founder

P.S. This past Tuesday I just talked with a WREIA member about some very specific ways I can help him on his current project. I made one phone call and saved him 18% on his contracting bid. The answer is YES, in March 2015 we are doing deals with our students and WREIA members.

Maybe you need some help with financing or could use a valuable construction partner with years of experience? Or do you need us to help speed up the process for you, and help drive your business to the next level? We are here to help.

Don’t be shy! Just post a few quick details about your deal at http://dchardmoneylender.com/quick-property-submit/ and we will get back to you ASAP.

If you prefer to send me an email – that’s fine too. Send some details of your project to profitableproperty   @  gmail.com  (Just leave out the spaces)

Monday – 11AM
re: WREIA Meeting Tonight

5 More Unusual Lead Sources Tonight. Each one has a ton of details on recent properties. How we found them, and what we are doing with each house. Think of them like 5 little mini case studies. Lots of details and plenty of little nuggets of information jam packed into each one.

Tonight is our second WREIA meeting of the year. It’s part 2 in the mini-series focused on “Unusual Lead Sources”. If you missed Part 1 a few weeks ago, no worries. You will be fine and quickly catch up. In Part 2 we have a lot more background on actual deals – recent deals – with more local detail that you will find anywhere else.

If you were with us for the January meeting you know I wasn’t holding anything back. I gave our members some great stories about why #1. knowing what you want, #2. staying focused and then #3. getting out there and implementing your plan WILL lead to deals.
Are you running into deals haphazardly? The meeting tonight might give you some ideas to implement – and make your deal flow much more deliberate.

Believe me – there are deals around you every day. You just need to be looking for them in unusual places if you want to take your business to the next level.

DOORS OPEN AT 6:30 for registration and light refreshments BUT…..

Can you give me a little help this evening? I am going to have a special section of the room devoted to getting your feedback about WREIA.

You already know that we focus on education first and networking is a big part of our meetings. We are focused on running our meetings so that every month you aren’t listening to pitch after pitch after pitch for special one time offers from out of town speakers.

But we can improve. Here is your chance to tell us what you want.

P.S. The first WREIA (members only) field trip will be this Friday. WREIA 6 month and 12 month members will get the time and address to see our current renovation walk-through. These are great times to see it, touch it, smell it, and ask as many questions about the process as you can. More details at the meeting tonight.

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Reserve your seat for the Second 2015 WREIA meeting Here.

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That’s all for now.

I hope I see you tonight at WREIA.

John Peterson

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

P.S. The answer is YES, in Feb. 2015 we are definitely doing partner deals with our students and WREIA members. Maybe you need some help with financing or could use a valuable construction partner with years of experience? Or do you need us to help speed up the process for you, and help drive your business to the next level? We are here to help.

Don’t be shy! Just post a few quick details at http://dchardmoneylender.com/quick-property-submit/ and we will get back to you ASAP.

***New Date***
First WREIA Meeting of 2015
 Feb. 2nd –  Doors Open @ 6:30PM

Topic: Unusual Lead Sources &
Keeping Your Pipeline Full

That’s all for now.

I hope I see you Next Monday, Feb. 2nd at WREIA.

John Peterson

Yesterday, we talked about this home that we picked up in December.  You can get a little better view of the home in the video here….

However, in today’s post, you will immediately notice a difference in the two homes. One is considerably younger, and most people would consider the area a little on the pricey side as well.

Do you want to hear about how we found these two properties and why we got them under contract before anyone else? Would you like to know how we did it without competing against dozens of other home buyers from around the DC area? (Come find out at WREIA Monday night.)

My goal for you on Monday night is to understand that you may be missing unique opportunities that only you or a small number of people know about. These opportunities are all around you – every day. They are chances to help some of your friends or neighbors. But you may be missing them because your “work boots” are on and you are only looking for “ugly houses”.

We talked about work boots in our email yesterday. Different weather requires different shoes. And in our business, different situations requires different conversation skills. Will you let me help you expand your conversation skills at WREIA Monday night?

Next Monday at WREIA I’m going to talk about some unusual places some of our WREIA members have found leads. You won’t hear about these sources from today’s online gurus. In fact, at least one of them is unique to our DC area. You simply won’t get the same experience in Florida for example, because this “secret DC area fishing hole” doesn’t exist in Tampa.

Remember: The first WREIA meeting of 2015 is this Monday – Jan. 26th. It’s going to be a great skill building night – with no high pressure sale and nothing to buy at the end of the evening.

I hope you join us Monday evening and kick off 2015 the right way.

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Reserve your seat for the Jan. WREIA meeting Here.

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That’s all for now.

I hope I see you on Monday at WREIA.

John Peterson

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

P.S. The answer is YES, in Jan. 2015 we are definitely doing partner deals with our students and WREIA members. Maybe you need some help with financing or could use a valuable construction partner with years of experience? Or do you need us to help speed up the process for you, and help drive your business to the next level? We are here to help. Just send us a few quick details at http://dchardmoneylender.com/quick-property-submit/ and we will get back to you ASAP.

You need the right tools for the job.  You also need the right shoes.

We all know that seasons change, and with changing seasons you need to wear different shoes.  Most people don’t need to wear snow boots to the beach in the middle of summer, or flip flops to shovel their driveway after a blizzard.

But for many people in our business, they know just one way to market their business.   They don’t change with the seasons, or with different situations.

Knowing how to swap out kitchen cabinets is the easy part of our business.  Knowing how to find a home that someone desperately needs to sell is another skill altogether.

People in different situations need different conversations to help them understand it’s time to sell their home.  The person that just lost their parent or loved one and is handling their estate is very different than someone who is going through a divorce, or just lost their job.

But for some investors, all they know how to do is talk about how much work a house needs, and they can’t take off their “work boots”.  These new investors, and even some seasoned investors, only have one perspective – how much work a house needs.

The video I just posted is of a house we purchased just a few weeks ago in December of 2014.  It needs some work.

The video I will share with you tomorrow is of a home that we will close on in just a few days.  The home doesn’t need a lot of work, but the homeowner needs some help.

These homes –  and situations –  are very different and took a very different conversation to come to a sale agreement.  For the investor that only knows how to talk about how much work a house needs, they likely would have been unable to buy either of these homes.  Because it wasn’t about the house – it was about what the sellers needed.

Conversations with sellers can be very difficult sometimes.  I get it.  Sometimes people are ready to sell, and other times they aren’t.

My goal for you on Monday night is to understand you may be missing unique opportunities. These opportunities are all around you.  They are chances to help some of your friends or neighbors.  But you may be missing them because your work boots are on and you are only looking for “ugly houses”.

Different weather requires different shoes.  Different situations requires different conversation skills. Will you let me help you expand your conversation skills at WREIA Monday night?

Next Monday at WREIA I’m going to talk about some unusual places some of our WREIA members have found leads.  You won’t hear about these sources from today’s online gurus. In fact, at least one of them is unique to our DC area.  You simply won’t get the same experience in Florida for example, because this “secret DC area fishing hole” doesn’t exist in Tampa.

Remember:  The first WREIA meeting of 2015 is Jan. 26th. It’s going to be a great skill building night – with no high pressure sale at and nothing to buy at the end of the evening.

I hope you join us Monday evening and kick off 2015 the right way.

That’s all for now – but keep an eye out for the video we are going to post tomorrow. You will immediately see a difference in the two homes.

I hope I see you on Monday at WREIA.

John Peterson

It’s finally on the calendar!  Save the evening of Monday, Jan. 26th and start your investing year off right at Washington REIA Network.

Our topic this month is going to be

“Unusual Lead Sources – Keeping Your Pipeline Full”

Doors will open at 6:30 for registration, networking and light refreshments.

Get your 2015 momentum going by networking with some of the DC areas best real estate investors, landlords, mortgage brokers attorneys and agents.

See you Monday Jan. 26th at Washington REIA!

*Reserve your tickets hereto skip the registration line and save a few dollars.

*(Sorry, discounts are online only and not available at the door.)