Landlord Newsletter - Real Estate Investment Clubs Tips

Please e-mail us if you have any questions or would like to add or share any material / information. I hope this month's newsletter finds you well and off to a successful landlording season.
John Nuzzolese
John@theLPA.com

Landlord Do's & Don'ts
The LPA Rental Application & New Prospects

What The LPA says you should do and what you shouldn't do:

DO

• Require a non-refundable screening fee when accepting a rental application
• It covers the cost of credit reports
• It disuades unqualified renters and saves your valuable time
  
  
• DON'T
  • Waste your time screening an applicant who won't pay your screening fee
  • Negotiate on the screening fee
  • Promise the rental to anyone, until after you've fully screened an approved the application.
  
  
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  LANDLORD SPECIAL REPORT: #20

  
  

  Real Estate Investment Clubs--Five Tips for Newbies

  

  by William Bronchick, JD
  

  Are you a newbie attending a real estate investing club? Learn the rules before you attend?
  
  Having run a real estate club since 1994 with 650 members Colorado Association of Real Estate Investors and having spoken at more than 50 clubs around the country, I have a few observations and insights. If you want to get the most out of a real estate club, follow these five rules...

  1. Get what you can from each speaker

     Real estate investing clubs are often underfunded and not for profit. Since they cannot afford to pay professional speakers to speak, most speakers who volunteer have something to sell. In many cases, it is a book, tape set, mentoring, or boot camp.
     
     Some people are offended that speakers are selling something--insisting that the speaker reveal everything he knows about a topic in a 90-minute meeting.
     
     Understand that EVERYONE has something to sell, whether it is a guru selling a course or a local mortgage company representative selling his loan packages. Everyone who speaks at a group has an "agenda." Otherwise he or she would not be standing on the stage speaking.
     
     Even the most hard core "pitchmen" do offer some great ideas during their presentations. So you need to get past the "I'm not here to be sold" attitude and get what you can from the speaker.
     
     A speaker cannot reveal everything he knows in 90 minutes. Otherwise he or she isn't qualified to take the stage.
     
     So, you should expect a certain amount of stories, jokes, anecdotes--and yes--a sales pitch for something. Listen carefully! You might also learn something.

  2. Respect other people's time

     Many newbies expect they can take a veteran investor out to lunch to learn the business. Most veteran investors won't do this, unless they are fairly certain you will bring them deals. And, the "teach me the business, and I'll bring you deals" attitude doesn't work.
     
     If a veteran investor teaches you everything he knows, and you do nothing (or you do invest, but don't bring him deals), he's wasting his time.
     
     I know this from personal experience, having taught dozens of newbies the business for FREE, thinking they would bring me deals. At some point, I woke up to reality--people who don't pay for their education RARELY USE IT!
     
     Many people know that I charge for mentoring, and I charge quite a bit. And yet the more I charge, the more people appreciate the advice and use it.
     
     Be willing to pay people MONEY for their time. You wouldn't expect a doctor to let you take him out to lunch for a consultation, so why is an investor's time any different?
     
     Keep in mind that most investors have paid thousands of dollars over the years for seminars and courses. Many feel that sharing information with others for free is simply unfair in that respect.
     
     And--most importantly--don't waste other investors' time trying to learn the basics. Undoubtedly, you have seen dozens of unanswered posts on CRE Online's Main Newsgroup from people asking general questions that can be easily found in a $15 book.
     
     Go to the bookstore and buy 10 paperback books and read them. If you are not willing to spend $150 and the time to read 10 basic books, you aren't ready to be a real estate investor--period!

  3. Let people know why you're there

     If you sit in the corner drinking coffee, you aren't networking and marketing your most valuable asset...YOURSELF!
     
     If your club does not have big name tags, make yourself one. Make it big and colorful. Have a statement about what you do and what you are looking for.
     
     There's one guy at our club whose name tag reads, "THE MOBILE HOME GUY." Everyone knows him. Everyone calls him when they need to sell a mobile home.
     
     Be creative and aggressive. Ask your club leader if it is okay to pass out flyers--bring big, colorful flyers that read
     
     

     "I have houses to wholesale--Call me"
     or
     "Looking for rehab properties on the west side--Call me"

     
     Get yourself a fancy business card and hand it out to everyone. And, don't use the cheap computer-printed garbage. Go spend $50 and get some nice double-sided cards that explain who you are and what you do.
     
     In short, if you show other investors you are serious about taking action, you will get their cooperation.

  4. Join membership immediately

     It amazes me how many people hesitate to join membership in their local real estate investing associations. For a few hundred bucks, you get access to one of the best resources you can find--her investors.
     
     Why spend all your time looking for the "right" mortgage broker when you can ask other people in the club? Why run ads in the paper for your wholesale deals when you can send an email to a dozen other investors you meet at the club?
     
     Heck, even the fact that you are a member of the club will give people a reason to do business with you rather than someone who isn't a member.
     
     I've been running a real estate club for nine years, and I can honestly tell you that I always go to the membership roll whenever I need a deal, a partner, a recommendation, or money to borrow.
     
     Also, volunteer to assist with the meeting. Volunteers often get on the "inside track" to becoming a board member, which gives you a lot of influence in the club.
     
     Offer to write articles for the newsletter on your own area of expertise that may be related to real estate. If you are an experienced investor, offer to teach a beginner's class or host a breakfast meeting.

  5. Respect the club rules

  Be considerate to others at the meetings. Every club has rules, so be mindful of them.

  • Show up early so you don't disrupt the meeting.
  
  
  
  • Don't pass out flyers without asking permission.
  
  
  
  • Don't stand in the back of the room and yak while the speaker is on stage.
  
  
  
  • Don't shout out questions to the speaker without raising your hand.
  
  
  
  • Close the door to the room quietly when you go to the restroom.
  
  
  

  • And, for Pete's sake--turn off your cell phone!

  About the author...

  
  William Bronchick, CEO of Legalwiz Publications, is a Nationally-known attorney, author, entrepreneur and speaker. Mr. Bronchick has been practicing law and real estate since 1990, having been involved in over 600 transactions. He has appeared as a guest on numerous radio and television talk shows including CNBC Power Lunch. He has been featured in Who's Who in American Business, Money Magazine, the Los Angeles Times and the Denver Business Journal. William Bronchick has served as President of the Colorado Association of Real Estate Investors since 1996. Bill specializes in all forms of asset protection and is the author of several great home study courses:

  • Flipping Properties
  • Lease Options Step by Step
  • Alternative Real Estate Financing
  • Secrets of a Real Estate Attorney
  • How to Create a Bulletproof Corporation
  • Your Step-By-Step Guide to Land Trusts
  • How to Form Your Limited Liability Companies
  • Wealth Protection Strategies
  Find out more about these programs at Bill's Legalwiz.com Online Store
  
  
  Printer Friendly Version of this Article
  
  
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  Rent Excuses...

  
  

  Excuse of the Day for 1/31/05:

  "We found mold. I am allergic to it. We may have to call the health dept if you can't get this problem takin care of."

  These people never wiped down the bath tub tile enclosure and are growing mildew in the grout between the tiles. Now they want to use this as an excuse to hold back the rent. Obviously they don't have the money. I told them to get some Tilex and start looking for another place because this is going to my attorney. They paid the next day. -Jeffery R, FL
  
  

  Excuse of the Day for 1/28/05:

  "My car is broke and it will be $800. to fix it and I ain't got that neither."

  He speaks in double negatives, but when he asked what my Notice to pay or Quit means, I told him "It means you ain't gonna stay here no more unless you pay." - Johnny A., SC
  
  

  Excuse of the Day for 1/20/05:

  "My camera was stolen out of my car. How am I supposed to make a living?"

  He's a photographer and has like 5 cameras. I told him that the rent is still due and he will have to get out if he can't afford the rent. - Marshal M., NY
  
  

  Excuse of the Day for 1/16/05:

  "I put it in the mail last tuesday"

  Wow, twice in a matter of 6 months the post office has lost your rent check... that's gotta go in a record book somewhere. I'm posting a pay or quit notice Monday. - Paul K.
  
  

  Excuse of the Day for 1/14/05:

  "My locker at the gym was robbed and I had it in cash in my wallet."

  Now I know it's a lie. First of all, he hasn't paid on time yet, plus he's never had the rent in cash. And if you look at this guy, it's hard to beleive he ever set foot in a gym! - Submitted by Adam, PA
  
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  Quotations...

  
  
  
  
  

  "Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing"
  - Abraham Lincoln

  "An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest."
  - Benjamin Franklin

  "I have witnessed the softening of the hardest of hearts by a simple smile."
  - Goldie Hawn

  "About the time we think we can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends."
  - Herbert Hoover

  "Poor is the man whose pleasures depend on the permission of another."
  -Madonna

  "How much did your last tenant problem cost you?"
  - John Nuzzolese

  A Way of Being
  - Gary Link, Attorney at Law
  
  

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