Archive View (May 2008)

I have a friend in Dallas whose children attend a private school and I recently learned of an exciting annual project worth noting. The school begins with pre-kindergarten and ends with 4th grader’s graduating with a celebration akin to a high school’s. Now this school has several wonderfully unique endeavor’s it teaches it’s pupils such as a real live opera fully staffed and produced by the kids in 4th grade but the most amazing to me was the business the children create themselves to teach them about how to run a company.  It all starts in 3rd grade where the children research chickens, decide more...

Ok...so you are not Donald Trump but you have aspirations of joining the ranks of the wealthiest in the business. This business is tough and there are a lot of cut-throat competitors so you will need to equip yourselves with a few tools in order to survive. First things first. It’s important to have the necessary real estate finance available so that you are positioned to move on a transaction when the opportunity presents itself.  Even “The Donald” leverages himself with borrowed monies or equity partners. It spreads out the risk and allows you to increase the scale of your investment capabilities. Next it will be more...

As gas prices climb higher and higher, the costs hurt people in more places than just their wallets. The more people pay at the pump, the more employees get stressed - even on the job - which results in lower productivity. People who are concerned about high gas prices let that stress carry over into their work lives. Researchers say they are significantly less attentive when they’re on the job. They’re less excited about going to work, less passionate and conscientious and more tense. All that combined equals overall lower productivity. Of course, higher gas prices have all kinds of other trickle-down effects. For more...

Today is Trump University’s three year anniversary.  Three years ago the Trump U. site went live and our doors opened for business with a few online and audio products.  Today we continue to expand our offerings to meet your needs and requests for new content and delivery methods. In the last year we have launched a series of live events and innovative real estate investment training to keep up with your investment and educational goals. Now let’s take a quick look forward. We have a few new exciting product launches planned for the next few months including topics covering: Tax Liens, Commercial Real Estate, more...

Today I would like to talk about strategic partnerships and networking as it pertains to attracting new clients especially in real estate. No matter what your business, you can broaden your market visibility and attract more clients by getting out of your offices and getting proactive. You should identify which organizations your best potential clients belong to, then JOIN and PARTICIPATE.   Be an active member of the “association” and utilize the member roster to make new contacts. It’s important take on leadership roles or get on committee’s as soon as possible to show those prospects you are serious about their cause. There are usually sponsorship more...

Since the Ethanol Mandate went into effect a couple of years ago, our price at the pump has nearly doubled. Special interest groups like the corn farmers lobbied hard to get this administration to impose the mandate promising that ethanol will reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Let’s break this claim down to see just how much and who is reaping the benefits of this so-called benefit to Americans.  Of the approximate 140 billions of gallons of gasoline we use each year in this country, the mandate called for 4.7 billion gallons of ethanol to be infused. The problem is that ethanol is not as more...

Just having gotten back from a continuing education conference for my insurance license, I realized that many consumers don’t understand what their insurance covers and as important, they are not aware that they have insufficient insurance coverage. I guess not all insurance agents are created equal. Agents that are only selling “price”, tend to leave out important endorsements that their customers need in order to compete for the business. This leaves the insured in quite a predicament when the unexpected need for a claim arises. The insured initially purchased what they thought to be a full coverage insurance policy to protect themselves against any unforeseen more...

Personally, I’ve never had a problem with self-esteem. I always say that you have to believe in yourself or no one else will. Now a new study has come out suggesting that high self-esteem isn’t necessarily healthy. The researchers, who of course are psychologists, say that sometimes people who are overly confident and proud of themselves can lash out at other people and believe that everyone else is wrong except them. They concluded that there was “good” high self-esteem and “bad” high self-esteem. With the good people well-grounded and the bad ones too aggressive and defensive. That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense more...

Could you get much work done if there were babies in the cubicles all around you? Apparently, that’s not as odd as it sounds. I read a story in USA Today that said at least 80 companies across the nation right now allow babies in the workplace. It’s an extreme - and somewhat controversial - example of how employers are trying to help their workers strike a balance between home and office. Many of the companies allow parents to bring their babies to work until the children are old enough to crawl. They don’t leave the infants in office daycare centers, however. They more...

Whether your real estate investment is for sale or for lease, one sure way to get the highest return is to “stage” it properly. Doing this will paint the picture and imagery you want for your target audience and make them want the feel you have created. Identifying your target audience is key. What demographic are you trying to reach? Are they “yuppie urbanites” looking at a condo or condo project in the city? If so, you will probably want to go with a modern and trendy look to stage the property. Use some contemporary furnishings and focus on the art and accent groupings. Be creative and also more...

I am constantly trying to help my clients come up with creative ways to buy and sell real estate. When I get the type of client that I think would be interested, we talk about how a great way to get into real estate investing is to buy an income producing property that you can utilize for yourself, too!  Whether you want to buy a residential or commercial property, you can get more favorable bank terms by “owner-occupying”. The actuarial tables for projected default to the banks show that if you own property and are occupying it for your use, you are less likely more...

It’s hardly a surprise but in the midst of today’s terrible economy and the nation’s housing crisis, the majority of Americans say they don’t plan to buy a home anytime soon. In fact, more than a quarter of homeowners worry that their home will lose value over the next couple of years, and one in seven mortgage holders are afraid that they won’t be able to make their monthly payments in time over the next six months. People are worried that housing prices will continue to fall which is good news if you want to buy but obviously terrible if you have a more...

I’m always talking about how important it is to get a good education. I’m a big believer in going to a great college and getting a good degree because of all that it will do for your career. Well here’s another reason to get a good education. Researchers at Harvard University found a stunning correlation between how long people live and how long they go to school. Over the past decade, people with at least one year of college increased their lifespan by at least a year and a half. But those with a high school diploma or less gained only six months. It more...

You make your money in real estate when you purchase it.  In other words, it’s extremely important that you shrewdly negotiate to win when you buy to give yourself the highest return on real estate when you sell. To do this, follow my 5 simple negotiating tips and you should succeed.  Don’t fall in love - Treat your purchase as a business and check your emotions at the door. Use your head rather than your heart because this will keep you from buying at any cost. If the deal makes financial sense. Don’t just low ball...validate - When submitting an offer which is below what the seller more...

Do you love your job, your boss, and all of your co-workers? If not, you are probably not among the ranks of the self-employed.  Self-employed individuals are passionate about their business and work tirelessly to make it a success. When you work for yourself you are not concerned with the time clock and could care less about how many hours per week you are at the office. You do this because you are expending time to grow YOUR business. Make no mistake, you WILL be working more, not less, than you were before. When you aren’t working “in” the business, you will find yourself working “on” the more...

Whether or not you believe we’re in a recession, a lot of people are taking a hit to their wallets and bank accounts and have to deal with it in some relatively old-fashioned ways. For one, moonlighting seems to be back in style. But it certainly isn’t because people are testing the waters of new careers or trying to expand their horizons beyond their boring day jobs. Now, when people work two jobs, it’s almost always motivated solely by financial need - either they really need the funds now or they’re afraid they’ll lose their primary source of income. According to the Department more...

Of course no one likes to think about it, but if you were laid-off from your job tomorrow how would you fare financially? With today’s volatile economy and job market, unfortunately it’s something you have to consider. I saw a recent online poll on CNN.com and was shocked at the results. Nearly 100,000 people had logged in their comments and about half said that if they were laid-off now, their savings wouldn’t last more than a couple of weeks. That’s unbelievable to me. It’s hard for me to imagine that people are that unprepared for financial hardship today, especially knowing how unstable everything more...