The nation’s housing policy for the poor can feel like a giant lottery. Sometimes it actually is a lottery.
For $1,200 a month, Patricia Torres and her family were renting a bedroom, a share of time in the bathroom, one vegetable drawer and one shelf in the fridge, and two cupboards over the stove. They rented not so much a home as a fraction of one.
Karen Calderon had even less: a single room in a homeless shelter where she was not allowed so much as a hot plate to cook for her family.
Adrian Caratowsa had a studio he’d remade as his own, repainting the walls and wallpapering over the kitchen cabinets. But every day for five years, he walked out into a neighborhood he found depressing.
For each, San Francisco’s housing crisis had meant living without essential elements of home. A large affordable housing development rising downtown promised what they did not have: 95 complete homes, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments with privacy, a sense of peace, a place to cook.
“Real estate” finds people in a lot of interesting situations. A very blue collar individual may find themselves “partners” on a real estate project with a very successful surgeon.
Rich doctor puts up the money. Blue collar carpenter puts in the sweat equity. They both split the profits.
Now would next statistic surprise you?
If you’re a doctor in a high risk specialty the odds of facing a lawsuit at some point in your career is 99%.
Do you want to be “partners” with someone who will very likely face a lawsuit?
In fact, some specialty doctors have a 19% chance of being sued – THIS YEAR! Do you want to have your property or your profits tied up in litigation?
Still interested in “partnering” with the rich doctor?
I recently saw an online quiz. No, not the kind that tells you what super-hero you would be. This quiz had you answer questions about how high of a risk you were for being sued.
You would be surprised how many things we do as real estate investors that puts us into a high risk category.
For instance – tenants.
We were told to add 2 points – for every tenant.
Luckily, there is insurance that helps protect you from high risk situations, but let’s leave the rest of the conversation for tomorrow evening at WREIA.
DISCLAIMER ALERT: I can’t give you legal advice. I’m not an attorney. But our next WREIA guest speaker is – and he is bringing some good “from the trenches” stories this coming Monday.
Our WREIA speaker is going to give you real life examples of mistakes that he sees new and old investors making over and over and over again. Those preventable mistakes are usually what brings people to his practice looking for legal help.
This is a great time to learn from other peoples mistakes. It could save you some serious headaches and sleepless nights down the road. Not to mention – it could save you a small fortune in legal bills.
Case Studies – Including…. Real Estate Partnerships Gone Wrong
Financing “Loopholes” or Traps?
Money Problems In MD Transactions
Beware of these “legal speed bumps”
Contractors – Buckle Up or Go Broke
When financing goes bad – a few stories you can learn from and avoid
and more
Bring your questions for the Q&A section. Our speaker is a local attorney and long-time WREIA Member with extensive experience working with investors across the DC area.
Save a few dollars and reserve your seat early. Then, come join us at WREIA – Monday, May 14th. It will be a great meeting to finally start the spring season, get you motivated, and get some momentum for the rest of 2018.
Join us as we talk about Real Estate Legal Problems and Lawsuits.
Meet real people doing real deals in real estate – right here in the DC/Baltimore area.
Remember the lady who sued McDonalds because her coffee was too hot?
This was back in 1992. Stella Liebeck ordered a cup’o’joe to go. She was sitting in her nephew’s car, pulled over so she could add sugar to her coffee.
When she tried to remove the lid, the coffee spilled on her legs causing third degree burns over six percent of her body.
Ms. Liebeck sued McDonalds for $20,000 in damages.
She won.
She was awarded $200,000. That amount was reduced to $160,000 because she was found to be 20% at fault.
The real kicker was she was also awarded $2.7 MILLION in punitive damages.
Raise your hand if you think McDonalds wishes it would have just paid the $20k?
But that was 1992. People can’t file these frivolous lawsuits any more, right?
Wrong.
The truth is, people can sue you for just about anything in 2018.
And in our world of real estate, the numbers can be big. You better believe eventually, some how, some way, someone is coming after your money.
But what can you do?
Can, or should, you defend yourself?
What are your chances of “winning” even if you do hire an attorney?
What can you do to prepare yourself for when it does happen?
I can’t give you legal advice. I’m not an attorney. But our next WREIA guest speaker is – and he is bringing some good “from the trenches” stories next Monday.
Our WREIA speaker this month is going to give you real-life examples of mistakes that he sees new and old investors making over and over and over again. Those preventable mistakes are usually what brings people to his practice looking for legal help.
This is a great time to learn from other peoples mistakes. It could save you some serious headaches and sleepless nights down the road. Not to mention – it could save you a small fortune in legal bills.
Join me on May 14th as we talk about real estate law.
Join us and learn:
Case Studies – Including…. Real Estate Partnerships Gone Wrong
Financing “Loopholes” or Traps?
Money Problems In MD Transactions
Beware of these “legal speed bumps”
Contractors – Buckle Up or Go Broke
When financing goes bad – a few stories you can learn from and avoid
and more
Bring your questions for the Q&A section. Our speaker is a local attorney and long-time WREIA Member with extensive experience working with investors across the DC area.
Save a few dollars and reserve your seat early. Then, come join us at WREIA – Monday, May 14th. It will be a great meeting to finally start the spring season, get you motivated, and get some momentum for the rest of 2018.
Join us as we talk about Real Estate Legal Problems and Lawsuits.
Meet real people doing real deals in real estate – right here in the DC/Baltimore area.
Have you ever been sitting at a breakfast with a group of good friends, and one of them is having some serious “real life” problems?
Next thing you know, the hothead (every group has a hothead) pipes up and almost screams “You should sue his #$$!!!”
That is usually not the best advice to give someone.
You know you have found a good attorney when they tell you to do everything you can to avoid a lawsuit. No one really wins when things go that far.
Most of the time, a simple conversation will go a long, long way.
Robert Louis Stevenson (famous writer of Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde) summed up our May WREIA topic best when he said
“Compromise is the best and cheapest lawyer.”
He’s right.
If you haven’t had a legal problem in this business you haven’t been doing it long enough.
The older, experienced, gray-haired folks at WREIA will also tell you Mr. Stevenson is 100% correct.
At some point, you will have a problem. We all have.
At the beginning of a problem let’s reflect on words from the Dalai Lama:
“When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways – either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength.”
But before we get too sappy, sometimes, we need to go beyond finding our inner strength and find a strong lawyer.
But where is the line? When is it time to end the conversation and get representation?
At no point have I ever felt good walking out of a courthouse. (Except years ago when I was searching tax records for property owners – but we do that online now.)
For instance – something as simple as a speeding ticket. If you go to court to ask for a little leniency from the judge – it is NERVE WRACKING. The judge is in there sending people to Jail minutes before your name is called. Feels a little silly to step up and ask for the fine to be reduced, but yeah, I did that.
The easiest advice I can give you is this – don’t get caught in a bad situation to begin with. Good communication and good contracts go a LONG way in our world.
Our WREIA speaker this month is going to give you real-life examples of mistakes that he sees new and old investors making over and over and over again. Those preventable mistakes are usually what brings people to his practice looking for legal help.
This is a great time to learn from other peoples mistakes. It could save you some serious headaches and sleepless nights down the road. Not to mention – it could save you a small fortune in legal bills.
Join me on May 14th as we talk about real estate law.
Join us and learn:
Case Studies – Including…. Real Estate Partnerships Gone Wrong
Financing “Loopholes” or Traps?
Money Problems In MD Transactions
Beware of these “legal speed bumps”
Contractors – Buckle Up or Go Broke
When financing goes bad – a few stories you can learn from and avoid
and more
Bring your questions for the Q&A section. Our speaker is a local attorney and long-time WREIA Member with extensive experience working with investors across the DC area.
Save a few dollars and reserve your seat early. Then, come join us at WREIA – Monday, May 14th. It will be a great meeting to finally start the spring season, get you motivated, and get some momentum for the rest of 2018.
Join us as we talk about Real Estate Legal Problems and Lawsuits.
Meet real people doing real deals in real estate – right here in the DC/Baltimore area.
We have all been there. At the doctors’ office, sitting there in the waiting room.
Waiting.
Waiting for test results.
Maybe waiting for a test to be run.
Maybe a full-blown “procedure”.
Whatever it is, you’re waiting, and waiting……
Then, lucky you, they call your name and escort you to another room where – surprise – you wait some more.
Good thing for me they have magazines to read. Some offices are still nice enough to provide magazines for all of us who don’t care to spend even more time perusing Facebook or Instagram.
So there I was, when I look over at a well worn Readers Digest from Oct. 2016.
There it was – the headline “Are You A Mosquito Magnet?”
I had to laugh. My college friend Pete ALWAYS had a way with mosquitoes. We could all be hanging out enjoying ourselves and Pete would be smacking himself up and down like a lunatic.
What I discovered in this article, page 67, was that beer alters peoples body chemistry so much, the new scent is an attractant to some types of mosquitoes.
Lucky for Pete, I can clue him in on that little knowledge tidbit next time I see him.
Still waiting, I turned to the next article.
It was a 5-page article about Gratitude.
Gratitude has an effect – a healthy effect – on both the person who issues the thankfulness and the person who receives it. Big things in the givers life will improve, like blood pressure, better sleep, less depression and even less pain for people who have been injured.
Better yet – gratitude has a trickle-down effect. People who are thanked, tend to “pass it on” by being just a little nicer to the next person.
There was a lot of “science stuff” in the article but I enjoyed the real people stories the most.
One person profiled in this article (who wasn’t very pleased with himself and was disappointed in the direction his life was going) decided to write a thank you note every day – for a year.
It didn’t take long before as he says “The first effects are that you realize that you have a much better life than you thought.”
Now, I am the first to admit that I’m very grateful for my life. I like what I do and I enjoy the people I do business with – and surround myself with – on a daily basis.
A big part of my gratefulness is our WREIA membership. One of the things I like to do for our Members is organizing our quarterly “Members Only” meetings. It’s one of the ways I get to get a little closer to our members and spend a little more time in a smaller, more intimate setting. About the only thing better is talking over a “live” deal.
At these meetings, we get some great questions, sharing, and some time to network in a fairly casual way. It’s how I really enjoy spending time with people.
So let me remind you – I AM really grateful for you and all of our WREIA members and guests that join us every month.
Enough of the sappy stuff…. now back to business.
If you want details on our next WREIA Members Only Quarterly Event, it’s posted below.
Come on out and join us. I’ll be happy and grateful to see you this Saturday morning.
I will be sharing my experiences developing this building and how you can take advantage of this changing landscape and the lessons I learned.
Join us on April 28th to see where some of the action is taking place in DC area.
I hope to see you Saturday morning. It’s a great opportunity to network, learn, and share some of your own knowledge as we walk a street in DC and point out the signs and opportunities you can watch for yourself.
John Peterson
Founder, Washington Real Estate Investors Association
After our monthly WREIA meeting a few days ago we had 5 or so follow-up requests for more details on an investor package.
I put together a short video on these packages and how you can use them in your own business when you are trying to raise some private money for your deals.
Lastly – our WREIA “members only” quarterly meeting is April 28th.
We will be walking a street in DC where we have a current renovation underway.
Don’t worry, John will be back in time to host our April meeting.
Now onto a thought for today –
We talked about Disney and Jeff Bezos in our last posts. That’s great. But our topic this month really comes down to this – the source of funding for your deals matters.
Whether you are going to wholesale the property you get under contract or do the deal yourself, EVERYONE involved in the deal wants to be sure it’s going to close.
From what I see going on these days, very few people are using their own cash to fund their deals. By that, I mean that they are writing checks from equity lines, or commercial lines of credit.
“But isn’t that their own cash?” you might ask.
Sort of.
You see, those people now have a LIMIT to their funding.
At some point they will run out of funds. It’s sad when those people shut down their business until they can “catch up” to do more deals.
Most of us understand that when you get really hungry and get everything up and running smoothly, the deals are either few and far between, or they are coming fast and furious.
There never seems to be anything in between.
For some people those times of feast or famine may be separated by a few weeks, and for others it may take months to find the next deal.
When I don’t hear from some people for a while because they are “too busy”, I always ask why they are so quiet. Most of the time they are limited in some way.
Sometimes it’s capital. Financial capital.
Other times though – it’s HUMAN capital.
Neither of these problems – lack of money or lack of people – should ever limit you from growing your business.
When the deals are coming in – don’t stop! Keep going and keep growing.
Most of the leaders in the real estate investing world here in the DC area have grown because they didn’t limit themselves when it was time to grow. They found partners or added people to their payroll.
This month at our WREIA meeting we are going to talk about finding capital from different sources and structuring deals so they make sense for everyone involved.
My hope is that at this April meeting we help open the eyes of a few people and help them see a path to expanding their business.
We don’t have anything to sell at WREIA.
Relax. There is nothing like a “6 week path to financial freedom” course that will be sold at the end of the evening. You don’t have to try to escape past the money desk at the back of the room.
In fact, many people stick around and network long after the meeting is done.
If you haven’t attended our WREIA meeting – our members agree that this lack of high pressure selling is refreshing. WREIA has become a safe place to come and network with other area investors and share tips on what’s working and where the trouble spots are in our local area.
At our WREIA meetings you can relax because no one is trying to get their hand in your wallet and get you all worked up and excited about buying a course.
Sit back, enjoy the evening and ask questions when you have them. New or experienced in this business – there will be a few sections for everyone.
Are you the type of person who is at least a little curious what is possible in this business? Don’t you want to know HOW people are getting deals done every day – right here in DC?
I hope to see you on Monday evening. Come on out and surround yourself with people who have a passion for real estate here in the DC area.
And bring your wholesale deals too. One of the wholesale deals announced at a recent WREIA meeting went on to sell for 18k OVER what the wholesaler was asking at our meeting.
Join me on April 16th as we talk about the entire process that goes on behind the scenes when financing properties. It’s a fun topic that I am going to break down into easy steps. By better understanding these steps you will have an edge over your competition and might be a little happier with your 2018 results.
April 16th is a great opportunity for you to ask a few questions like:
How do I know I have the best finance partner for my project?
When is the right time to use hard money or private money?
What the heck is hard money or private money?
What is a reasonable rate for my flip projects and my rentals?
My credit history looks like a garbage pail of drama. What are my options?
Is it possible to finance deals with little money out of my pocket?
What mistakes do you see people making with their financing?
What can a Realtor do to help investors close more deals?
Save a few dollars and reserve your seat early. Then, come join us at WREIA – Monday, April 16th. It will be a great meeting to start the spring season, get you motivated, and get some momentum for the rest of 2018.
Join us as we talk about Financing Real Estate in the DC area.
Meet real people doing real deals in real estate – right here in the DC/Baltimore area.