Okay your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you I am really blogging 2 days in a row, and this one is even about real estate! I have been busy with lots of different things including talking to some of you via email, phone, twitter, google chat, and Facebook. In the hospital, making movies, et cetera (yeah that’s how you actually spell etc.) and on  down the line! Yet I haven’t forgotten any of you or wholesaling real estate during any of all this craziness!

In talking to so many of you it has once again been brought to my attention that for some reason there are investors out there that don’t realize that it’s pretty much mandatory to negotiate. I’m not saying that everyone should take my approach and negotiate everything business related, but you could learn a few things from some tips I use day-to-day. (Personally I use alibaba.com to negotiate prices on everything I use from pens and pencils to the paper for my printer.)

Tip # 1- Every seller you talk to is essentially after the most money they can get.

As a real estate investor when you go to “buy” a house the seller wants as much as they think they can get! Whether you are a wholesaler or whatever this is a fact. They want the most cash out of this asset that they are selling to you. It’s not rocket science! If they realize it’s run down they will say hey I’m “giving it at this price” sometimes that may be the case, but even still negotiate! It doesn’t matter if you only end up squeezing a mere thousand dollars off the asking price that’s where the difference in your bottom line comes from. If you do one house a month which isn’t big time by any means a grand more on your profit each deal is 120 thousand extra in your pocket over the next ten years!

Tip #2- Make sure you pay attention to others negotiations!

Here is something I have noticed throughout my dealings with buyers the one’s that don’t negotiate from your asking price any are usually the one’s who don’t end up buying! I don’t care if you have an in demand “perfectly priced” property and getting your asking price isn’t a problem they shouldn’t just accept your price as the gospel. If this keeps happening and you actually do close them like this regularly then your asking price is too low! It’s not greedy for me to say this the important part of entrepreneurship is having a grasp of the concept that you making money is just as important as anything else! The “freedom” of working for yourself doesn’t mean anything if you can’t afford to pay your bills.

Tip #3- The fear of speaking up will kill your business!

I know anyone who tries to do even part-time investing is actually trying to bring as many leads as they can in. The way I look at is don’t waste any of your marketing efforts! If a seller contacts you and their price is just outrageous try to do a quick negotiation anyways! You have them on the phone or are emailing them anyways why not just “Speak Up” and ask for something more favorable! Even if you hear no at least you heard something! This is actually a scientifically based thing here. For every rebuttal someone hears there will be a reaction and in more cases than you realize that reaction will be the seller caving in quickly to get some actual favorable terms out there!

"Shh... nobody knows I'm gay even dressed like this"

[tweetmeme source= ‘GregHarris66720’ only_single=false]

You know after the “shocking” revelation today by Ricky Martin (he’s gay) . I too have something to get off my chest

Thanks Ricky for giving me reason to state the damn obvious too haha!

On a serious note I shall return tomorrow in full force with an actual real estate blog…

Okay lets just say you run a business which isn’t that far fetched for most of you. You get this great idea like I don’t know you are gonna start flipping igloos in Alaska. In your mind this sounds great and you being the “kingpin” of this business get up and tell everyone that you are a complete dumbass by announcing your brilliant plan but your minions or coworkers are too afraid to really say you are a  retard we have more important things to be doing. So you continue on with this awesome plan to “change” the way everything runs in your business you start asking your stockholders what they think and immediately they say um wtf are you doing? As do your main competitors at your place of business even though you are supposed to be working “together” for the good of the company. Yet you still think your idea is great people will get it once they see it in action.

Then people start asking questions like how much is this gonna cost? Your answer is um I don’t know…. Next question okay who is paying for all of this to get started once again…. No clue. Now at this point a smart business person would definitely realize they don’t have a plan they just have a stupid idea, but not you! Oh no you are right screw the rest of the business we are getting this plan into action no matter what! Now right here is where your stock holders should step up and fire you just to save you from yourself, but that process takes way too long. Like in some cases can only be done every 4 years, because there isn’t a solid contract clause to say hey the wrong man got the job he isn’t who we thought he was.

Now as bad of way as this sounds to run a business it’s even worse when the President of your country is the igloo flipper… We need a new Amendment the one that states we have the right to say our bad we messed up!

You know what is sad for 200 plus years black people have talked about the “man” trying to take over everything and keep them down and the first real true signs of the “man” really showing up is none other than a black man….

So this is what I learned this past week… One I hate planes I used to love them now not so much. Two always have a handcuff key… three according to a phone call just received a few minutes ago I’m too “violent” for the Arkansas the commission to sign off on insurance any more.

Four actually pertains to what this blog is supposed to be about some people just don’t understand real estate! From “motivated” sellers to property “hungry” buyers or even “wannabe” investors. It’s like they don’t really understand that time is of the essence whether you want  or even “need” to sell a house it’s not worth as much as your neighbor’s house was when the sold it in 2007 not even in the same ballpark! If you don’t understand that check the balance on your 401k and compare real quick. Okay go ahead I’ll wait… See you’re pissed off now aren’t you, but now you see my point a little better. Their perfect house is still worth more than your house that needs “a little TLC” and for the record TLC isn’t thousands of dollars in repairs. That’s a terrible and overused phrase … (rant p.s. it’s also a shitty television network! Fat asses people who don’t do a damn thing vertically and midgets don’t really have anything to do with learning! Can I go to a school and find a class for living like a  fat ass or kicking it like midgets… Hell no! Thus The Learning Channel is a piece of garbage! Don’t  put out shows about women who are confused it’s not a clown car it’s a vagina! If the tv cameras weren’t up there ass they couldn’t afford those kids so stop watching! They will be forced to close and put their legs down on the ground walk outside and get a damn job!… end of rant)… that I wish people would stop using.

As for the property hungry “cash” buyers and “wannabe” real estate investors if you don’t really have cash tell people the truth! Also stop listening to all of these gurus who say you should be making 5,000 to 30,000 every deal because it’s bullshit point blank period! If you are dealing with a 10,000 dollar house or less odds are you are just gonna tie up a sellers property and stop them from getting their money if you are trying to make massive profits within 30 days! I’m not saying you have to see every property you contract either just that you have to be realistic the less “work” you do the less “profits” you should expect.

So as I promised almost an hour ago I am giving something to the the people. Just the one’s who are willing for the first time to actually take action! There is always a catch something for nothing usually ends up just being nothing, because it has no value to you.

So here is the deal I will take on students to mentor for the first time it’s a program I designed and never advertised. Whether you want to be a pound the pavement wholesaler or go virtual it doesn’t matter I will help you do either one or both. You just have to be teachable my way isn’t the only way or possibly even the best way but it works bottom line.

http://www.humblegladiatorinvestments.com/apps/webstore/products/show/1122716 It’s priced this way just so that you have motivation to apply yourself at least some and so that most people can afford it. It will end up paying for itself 10 times over at least on your first deal. You just have to make a choice to succeed!

So apparently to people who don’t know better or understand how the entire universe works. I am going to explain something Wholesaling is not a scam business! How fucking hard is it to understand that if you are telling sellers what you are doing it’s completely ethical. Do you think when you go to Walmart they are selling at the price they paid? No they got a price that they could pay so they can resell it to you at a price you will pay! It’s not rocket science it’s not a scam unless you are a complete piece of shit about it.

There is a reason for this post and the people who need to see it probably won’t but oh well.

So since I pay for this site. I’ve just realized I can say whatever I want and nobody can do a damn thing about it. First of all if you are easily offended by language the back button is at the top left. Now any ways I am tired of writing about things in a “professional” manner which isn’t shocking to anyone who knows me. Realistically all of the stuffy shit is boring and makes it super hard for me to write. If it’s boring to me then why the fuck would I do it? Exactly! I’m 2 days from my 29th birthday and just learned that me is good enough if it isn’t then don’t read I don’t really care. I like helping the people who read don’t get me wrong, but it would be better for everybody if I didn’t have to pick and choose my words carefully.  So let’s try out this new tone.

What’s wrong with Real Estate Investing?

1. There are too many fake mother fuckers!

Seriously how many people to you talk to a week that say  they are this this and this, and you get that that and that. Sellers tell lies all the time maybe not huge ones, but they want the most for their house immediately I get that. “The roof is in perfect shape” What’s with all the water spots on the ceiling? “I’d never noticed” right. Buyers lie too “I have the money and want the house” Schedule a closing and the excuses or outright lies start just piling up. Wholesalers aren’t any better how many dumbass people have you seen advertising buying your house in 24 hours or less? Where the fuck do they do that at seriously? Especially when most of the people don’t have a damn dime! You can’t get a title search done in 1 hour it’s just not possible! Hell sometimes I can’t get one done on the right house in 7 days!

2.  You are dependent upon other people.

I hate the fact that I have to depend on other people to keep their word to eat. One person fucks up the chain of trust and you don’t get anything! Every deal that goes wrong there are at least 2 people who take a credibility hit. If a seller pulls out ,which is rare, you think they lied to you and the buyer says you are a liar to. Vice versa also the thing is though I don’t care I’ve been called worse by other people who don’t mean shit to me. What I do care about is when the bullshit starts I have a six year old son and an entire extended family I like to do things for. Sometimes I’ll be like sure I can help you “knowing” I have a deal nearing completion and will be fine until someone slips up. Then I don’t get shit and have to struggle like I work at McDonald’s for a minute. Is that my own fault yes and I admit that. At the same time I trust people because I am a man of my word and expect the same. I’ve heard good acceptable reasons before most of it though is just face saving bullshit!

3. Everyone is an expert!

If you haven’t done 10 deals do you really think you know what the fuck you are doing well enough to teach others? I know thats not the case so some people out there need to get over the idea that they know everything. Don’t give advice if you don’t know your head from your ass! Point blank period. The only advice you should be giving is a referral to someone who can help them!

Since some one asked to hear the story of my first deal here it is! After much debate I’ve decided to go with the uncensored version.

Back Story

I was having some doubts about continuing my fighting career after some bullshit promoters fucked me over.  So I decided to look for a job that could match up to me, my personality, and financial expectations. There was a job posted in the newspaper for real estate agents wanted in my area. I gave it a call to find out what it was all about had the interview and this guy told me I would be great in the business after talking to me for 2 minutes. Yet he drove 4 hours to do this interview so he wanted to hang out for awhile I wasn’t gonna say no since he was gonna teach me everything I needed to know. Fast forward 3 hours since nobody wants to hear about drunken wildness by middle aged men, he lets me in on this secret the real money is in investing.  I paused to tell him to put his wrinkled genitals back in his pants and to leave the waitress alone, and then asked him to continue. He had spent all day talking about being over the biggest brokerage in California for 25 years which in my mind was complete bullshit and I told him so he was drunk not like he was gonna remember. He then says all of his money comes from investing what he was doing isn’t legal by the way.

The Deal

After this interview and all that wonderful back story I started researching the different variations of investing and picked wholesaling to get started. I then decided to go for it and bought “free” bandit signs using 15 different email addresses and friends houses. There is that whole cheapness thing again. I drove out of town put the signs up 6 weeks in a row and got my first buyers calling in and the police. Week six though I got my first seller lead using craigslist negotiated absolutely none, which is  something I do now even if it’s a better than perfect asking price.

Everything is rolling I then use more bandit signs to sell the house and craigslist. I had a price that I thought was nice and easy for the quick close. Which was the truth everything was good until the buyer went and looked at the house and discovered a foundation problem. Whacked 3500 off of the asking price and I still took it because he was buying with cash and knew he would be back for more houses.

So now we have 1500 left in profit not so fast the closing costs last minute are to be split so I end up paying 300 bucks of my share to shut the seller up and get the close. It was the most disastrous deal I’ve ever done until this week. Which I might elaborate on further it just depends on what happens.

So who wants to strap a rocket to the ass of their real estate investing business? I see all of these ideas that various people have and some of them are great, but most of them are usually just ridiculous. Why would someone spend thousands on a no money down investment marketing campaign? If you had been investing successfully for a little while I could see it, however spending some bank to get your first deal is a stupid move.

First I am a tight wad and will admit it. I can track the R.O.I. of every marketing dollar I have ever spent. I can also tell you that the R.O.I. works out into the thousands/ hr on an hourly wage on time I have spent doing free marketing. The first deal I did cost me 180 dollars in marketing plus about 4 hours and I brought in $1200. The second I spent 2 hours and 17 minutes of my time to make 3000. Now which one do you think caught my attention the fact that for every dollar spent I got $6.67 in return or that I made $1315.79 an hour the second time? Initially I looked at the 1315.79 and ran with it, but as I went along realized it was more the inexperience that threw my numbers off. My point is if you don’t have money to spend then do not spend it. You shouldn’t starve yourself to get a business going. Eat now and wait until you can feast later.

Secondly buying everything that somebody suggests or tries to sell you on isn’t gonna get you to where you want to be any faster. Unless where you want to be is frustrated and starving. Did you know that making an offer is essentially free? Try that one for starters if you make the right offer and get stuck with it you still won’t lose anything.

Fact/tip 1 I have never lost a dime from a contract expiring. What part of no money down investing doesn’t make sense? The part where people put money down. Seriously it’s a 3 word term and people still screw it up. The big reason most people get into no money down or wholesale investing is because they don’t have a lot of money. Keep what little you have!

Fact/tip 2 I love to make offers. The catch to that is I am sure I can complete the deal. Making a bunch of low ball offers is cool and all, until your rent is due and bills need to be paid. Make a decent offer so you actually have properties to move to your unnecessarily large buyers list. Other wise you are wasting your time! There are a lot more fun things to “waste” time on than real estate.

Fact/tip 3 Don’t break your routine. Most people I see get a house under contract and stop looking for more deals. I find that to be a huge mistake. True it’s not gonna sell itself, but if you bought right it won’t take that much extra time out of your day to move it! You don’t have to sell it the first day unless you created the 48 hour option contract.