Master Real Estate Course

Lesson #6 Mastermind Alliance

Objective:

• Begin assembling your Mastermind Alliance team.

1. Buy six properties. 2. Love your tenants. You buy a property and you pay off the mortgage. Then you enjoy the income. Then your children enjoy the income. Then your grandchildren enjoy the income. Your great-grandchildren will enjoy the income. When does this end? Now, you know why real estate investing is so great because it never ends. In a hundred years, your offspring will be saying, "Thank you great-great-great-great grandpa or grandma!" Start your family dynasty. This is beyond the comprehension of average people. You can do this. You deserve this.

Background:

Effective decision makers rely on their sources. They gather the best information available. They deal with the best. They understand their options.

The Mastermind Alliance is the method for bringing a team approach to individual investing. Two heads are better than one and ten are better than two. This is true if the team is focused on the completion of the mission and our mission is to get you rich and retired in twenty years or less.

Think of your Mastermind Alliance as your Special Forces A-team.

With a Mastermind Alliance you envision yourself as the head of a large corporation. You have a decision to make. You call the appropriate specialists from your staff. You present the problem and ask each specialist to bring back options, solutions. You evaluate the data sent to you. You clarify; you ask questions. You take recommendations. You reach a decision based on the team approach.

You are beginning to assemble a network that will assist you in making hundreds of thousands and then million of dollars. Your team will also help you avoid wasting money; avoid mistakes and correctly the mistakes that you do make.

You will make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. You will not dwell on your mistakes. You make a mistake. You figure out what you should have done differently. You correct the mistake. You learn. You move on. This is a Master of Success in business.

You will have lawyers on your team who think like lawyers and not investors. You will have electricians on your team who think like electricians and not investors. You will have real estate agents who think like agents and not investors. This is good. You want to deal with specialists. You are an investor. You are a person of action. Because of your continuing research and experience, you are a person who can evaluate a property and make an offer without delay. Because you give business to your Mastermind Alliance, there is a human law of reciprocity; they will give business to you. Yes, when the lawyer or the electrician or even the real estate agents hear about investment opportunities, they will think of you.

You do NOT want to hire your second cousin just because he happens to have a law degree and just because he happens to need cases and will work cheap. You want the best legal representation and only the best. By the best, you are not looking for the smartest lawyer with a wall full of degrees. You want the most well connected lawyer, the power player, in your specific investment area. You want a lawyer who can understand your objectives and pick up the phone and make things happen. You will definitely have to pay a premium to deal with the best. Pay the premium.

For example, the lawyer may handle an estate with real estate involved. In most cases, he will be thinking about his legal fee and not acquiring the real estate as a side deal, which may be viewed as a conflict of interest. The lawyer and the heirs want to resolve the estate without delay. You are a person willing to make a fair offer without a lot of muss and fuss. The lawyer calls you.

The real estate agent may have a listing with special circumstances. The home seller is a pack rat and the house if filled to the ceilings with junk. The home seller is ill and can't be bothered with an endless parade of gawking lookers. You are a person willing to make a fair offer without a lost of muss and fuss. The agent calls you.

The electrician hears of a property for sale. He doesn't have the money or the mindset to buy the property. He calls you. You make a fair deal. You give the electrician a thousand or two as a finder's fee. Everyone wins.

This can happen. This will happen over and over again. Let lots of people know that you are ready, willing and able to make fair offers on property without a lot of muss and fuss.

You are an easy, fair person with whom to deal. The older couple who sell you one of their properties may sell you two or three or the rest of their properties just because you were easy to work with on the first transaction. You offer a fair price and get a good deal. The older couple gets a fair price and avoids the hassles of the marketplace.

This will happen over and over again.

You will make money because you can push the pencil and do the math. You will also make money because you are a fair, honest and no muss or fuss businessperson.

In the Master Small Business Course III, you met Andy, the real estate agent, who is on the road to making several fortunes in real estate. Andrew wasn't shy. You also met Josh, the car salesman, also not shy. Let people know who you are and what you do. You are an investor who is interested in buying property.

The Henry Ford Story

Henry Ford was getting on in years and his heirs were worried that he was starting to make poor decisions. Even though he founded the company, they wanted him replaced as the head of the Ford Motor Company. The heirs took old Henry to court hoping to wrestle control of the company from him.

The heirs hired a big time Philadelphia lawyer who had a plan to break Henry Ford on the witness stand. Before being called, Henry Ford quietly listened as a parade of experts expounded on the complexities of the automobile industry. Then Henry Ford calmly took the stand. The heirs' lawyer peppered him with a long list of technical questions. "Mr. Ford, do you know the complexities of mixing durable auto paints?" Henry Ford replied, "I do not". The lawyer asked, "Mr. Ford, do you know the compounds used in modern auto tire rubber?" Henry Ford replied, "I do not". The lawyer continued, "Mr. Ford, are you familiar with the compression ratios in modern combustion engines?" Henry Ford said, "I am not". With that, the lawyer went into a tirade of condemnation as he concluded, "Mr. Ford, you seem to have so little technical information. How, sir, can we ever expect you to run this company effectively?"

To which Mr. Ford replied, "Well, you see, I have this box on my desk with lots of little buttons and when some minor little question or other comes up that I can't answer, well, I just push one of those little buttons and a jackass like you comes running in with the answer!"

Case closed. Henry Ford won and remained in control.

The moral is that it isn't so much how much you know as do you know the people who know. If you know good lawyers and accountants and bankers and carpenters and electricians, then you don't have to know what they know. You only have to know them.

Why not you? Why not model your decision-making activities after the experts? If you can do it, don't you think you'll be way ahead of the average investor? Don't you think these kinds of things; ways of understanding and doing, using intellect and effort are going to put you in a position for success? Success will be finding the best properties at the best prices, getting the best financing and providing the best management. Success will be that property, with time, tripling or quadrupling in value. You've seen the numbers. Success will be the material things and the time freedom. Success is your goal. Why not you?

Make a list of the people you'll need to form your Mastermind Alliance. This is the team you're going to put together to help you reach your goal. You need a good real estate office and an expert agent. You need a lawyer and an accountant who know real estate. You need good, reliable contractors: a carpenter, plumber and electrician. You need a good part-time handyman. You need banking connections. You need mentors.

How does the business world work? Connections, networks, alliances.

The Mastermind Alliance

   Real Estate Office:
   Expert Agent:

Mortgage Broker

   Lawyer:
   Accountant:
   Architect:

Insurance Agent:

   Carpenter:
   Plumber:
   Electrician:
   Landscaper:
   Handyman:
   Banker:

Surveyor:
   Home Inspector:
   Other Investors:

Start your list with people you already know. Your brother's a carpenter. Your next-door neighbor is a lawyer. You have Jones for an office and Nardo for an agent. If you want the best, ask for it! Research. Ask the people you know to recommend others. Well, the carpenter can recommend a plumber and an electrician. The lawyer knows the accountant. Jones has the banking connection. Nardo has other banking connections and also knows a great electrician, his son. Nardo's son knows a retired builder who would love a little extra work as a part-time handyman. You get the idea. You make connections. You get recommended names and phone numbers. You may need a landscaper, carpet layer or roofer. Get recommendations from your Mastermind Alliance.

In the beginning, people will naturally be suspicious of someone who claims a grand plan for personal financial success. You'd feel the same way. It's better to be low key and professional. Bragging is counter-productive. Yes, with your research, your knowledge of real estate in your small specific investment area will make you feel superior. Be confident and not boastful; make friends. Prove yourself through your accomplishments.

It's the System, Stupid

Over the years, I had heard the name, Simon Vern, but had never attempted to hire him. This was my mistake.

I had recently purchased a nine-unit building with a large four-bedroom apartment on the third floor. In this apartment, I had inherited a family with a bunch of kids, wild kids. One afternoon, one of the kids was playing with Dad's cigarette lighter and set the apartment on fire. Thankfully, no one was hurt but there was substantial damage to the building.

As expected, in the rental housing business, you will meet all types of people. In the fire investigation, it was quickly determined that the child started the fire with a lighter. The father of the child said, "I'm not surprised because he was always playing with my lighter." Everyone just shrugged their shoulders and shook their heads and that was it. The family received moving expenses from the insurance company and moved.

I had the building to repair. Since the third floor was a gut rehab, I decided that two apartments could be built in the space of the one larger apartment. Creating an additional apartment would also mean more rent and, at the time, would increase the value of the building by about thirty thousand dollars. I presented my idea to the building inspector who told me that I couldn't do it because an extra apartment would require extra parking, which I didn't have. I asked the building inspector if there was any way and he said, "No, not without a variance." I went to the Board of Appeals to see about a variance and the secretary said, "This will never be approved." I naively asked, "Isn't there anything I can do?" She said, "It won't cost you anything to talk to Simon Vern. If he takes your case, you'll get the variance. If he doesn't take the case, you won't."

I called Attorney Simon Vern's office. At his office, he listened to me for about twenty seconds before putting up his hand, "Bill, we need more affordable apartments for working people and not everyone has a car. I think I can get this done for you." I said, "Great." He said, "With expenses, it will cost you ten thousand dollars." As a frame of reference, ten thousand dollars was an outrageous amount of money. I was frankly shocked. I said to Attorney Vern, "You want ten thousand dollars just to present this request to the board?" He said again, "There are expenses. You decide if you want the apartment or not." I wanted the apartment. I got the approval. I paid Attorney Vern's fee. Nothing more was ever said.

How To Choose An Architect

You may have thought of an architect simply as the designer of shopping centers, office buildings, and millionaires' homes. But, you may find the professional services of an architect to be cost-effective if -

   - you plan to build your own home.
   - you plan to hire a contractor to build a home for you.
   - you plan a major renovation of your present home or a proposed purchase.
   - you plan to create or add an income unit to your present home.
   - you plan to purchase and convert a large single-family home to a multiple-dwelling building.

An architect can be hired to assist you and your residential property specialist in performing any one or more of the services listed in Table I.

   TABLE I

   The Architect's Role

The cost can be justifiable

An architect can be hired on a fee-per-service, hourly/daily, or percentage-of-cost basis. When an architect is hired with the expectation that a full range of services will be provided, fees will normally fall within the range of 5% to 15% of total project cost. The cost to hire an architect may at first seem excessive, but the cost can be justified if waste and inefficiency are reduced. Construction and reconstruction material and labor costs are high and savings here can be significant.

In choosing an architect, the best source for reliable information is your residential property agent. Your agent is experienced in the phases of building design and construction. Your agent can assist you in preparing a list of candidates, evaluating their credentials, reviewing their previous work, talking with previous clients, and determining the investment quality of the architect's proposed work.

If this all seems like hard work, so be it. In twenty years - or less! - when you are comfortably retired, you won't regret these days.

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity. - Albert Einstein

Let's say that you want to make major changes to a building to increase its income potential. You need government approvals. You may have to appear before various boards to defend your proposal. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, having an architect's rendering can go a long way in facilitating the approval process. And, having the rendering prepared in advanced and shown to abutters, the neighbors may also help to bolster your case and alleviate objections.

Making The Mastermind Alliance Work

When you call someone new from your list, you're not a call from the blue. You've got a connection. You call Sullivan the roofer. "Mr. Sullivan, my name is Bill FitzPatrick. Fred Jones recommended you to me. I have a roofing job and I'd like you to give me an estimate." Personal contacts are better than walking your fingers through the Yellow Pages. Try it.

Every member of your Mastermind Alliance works for you. The organizational structure is here on paper and in your head. You don't call everyone together for a meeting and say, "Hi, I called you all together to make me a fortune in real estate". If you did, the alliance would be looking for the best psychiatrist to get you help. You know the organization and structure, and that's enough. No one else has to be involved with how these connections are made.

Two other points should be made relative to the Mastermind Alliance. First, the people close to you, husband, wife or best friend should have a general idea of your goal. People who care about you might wonder why, for instance, you're driving around alone on a Sunday morning. They might wonder where they went wrong when you start talking in terms of making hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sit down with them and explain your goals. If they haven't read it already, give them a copy of the Action Principles^®. Explain that you're going to buy one piece of property and eventually six properties. Explain the Master Real Estate system to them. Your research and planning should dispel skepticism. You need and should have the encouragement of those close to you. After all, as a Action Principles^® Champion, you are certainly going to include them in the enjoyment of your prosperity.

The Mastermind Alliance is your team, your organization. If you have a question, pick up the phone, make the connection and get the information. Your Mastermind Alliance will evolve and develop with time as you add and drop members.

Be a joiner. If you can, join the Rotary or the Lion's Club or the Chamber of Commerce. These are the local leaders in your community. Tell them who you are and what you do. Don't be shy. Be proud of what you are doing for yourself, your family and your community.

   You are a local real estate investor.

   You own quality properties.

   You want to buy more.

Remember, real estate has a longer life expectancy than most people. Real estate passes from old hands to young. The old guy owns it today and you own it tomorrow and someone else will own it after you. You are only the temporary custodian. Hold you hands out!

Among the many military acronyms is FIDO – Forget It. Drive On. Keep studying. Keep making offers. Forget the deals you don't make. Drive on to the new opportunities.

Consultants And Experts - Who Does What?

   With all the names and titles floating around the real estate business, sometimes it can get confusing deciding whom to hire for what job. For instance, let's say that you need an engineer - okay, structural, civil, mechanical or electrical?

   The following list helps sort out a few of the players and their roles.

The Consultant Commandments

When hiring any kind of outside expert, consultant, accountant or lawyer, you should take heed of these suggestions for getting your money's worth.

Sign on only the best and most qualified consultant available within the desired field of expertise.

Use written documents that are clear, concise and fair to both sides. Be sure the contract documents spell out exactly the work expected with timeframes and payment schedules.

Define the results you expect from the consultant.

Work with and assist the consultant whenever possible.

Establish lines of communication with the consultant.

Coordinate the services of all consultants working on the job to prevent overlaps, which may result in cost and time delays.

Stick to the consultant's recommendations in any specialized, technical and/or regulated matter. That's why you hired him or her.

Avoid any actions that delay the consultant's work. Keep the consultant informed of any changes being made that may impact his or her work.

Allow adequate time for the review of consultant's work and/or reports and decisions and submissions based on the consultant's recommendations.

Keep in mind that the consultant is only as good as the job specifications and how well he or she is kept informed and supported throughout the task.

Punctuality is a masterful trait. You can't be late to the battle. Average people, many undisciplined, are frequently too lax about being on time. People who are not punctual are saying that their time is more important than your time and hence that they are more important than you. By your example, let your business associates that you will be punctual and that you expect them to act in kind. Likewise, tenants should have no doubt that the timely payment of rent is expected.

How To Choose A Contractor

Home remodeling is big business. There are 37,254 professional contracting firms eagerly awaiting the $33.5 billion that will be spent on remodeling every year.

When the average homeowner calls in a contractor to negotiate a remodeling job, the contractor starts out with a big advantage. The contractor knows material and labor costs, suppliers, specifications, estimating, scheduling, and the definition of quality workmanship. He also knows what provisions to put into a written agreement.

Most homeowners must concede these initial advantages to the contractor. After all, the contractor is in the remodeling business.

Those homeowners who do know a great deal about carpentry, wiring, and plumbing often choose to halve their costs and perform much of the work themselves. Approximately two-thirds of all major home remodeling is done by the pros and one third by do-it-yourselfers

The vast majority of homeowners aren't greedy or bargain basement oriented when it comes to upgrading their properties. They want a dollar's worth of quality work for every dollar spent. But they don't want to experience the type of dispute that results in a visit to the Better Business Bureau, consumer protection agencies, call-for-action talk shows, the Attorney General's Office, or the small claims court.

The common sense checklist below can help you protect your interests when you deal with remodeling contractors.

The Mastermind Alliance is a two-way street. Through your impeccability, you will show your commitment to high standards. You lead by example. Those in your Alliance will understand your expectations for their performance.

Contractor Selection Checklist

1. Research your project in advance.
   2. Get several bids for the project.
   3. Deal with an established firm.
   4. Check the contractor's reliability record with the Better Business Bureau.
   5. Check the contractor's credit references.
   6. Ask for a list of previously satisfied customers.
   7. Verify that the contractor carries adequate liability insurance.
   8. Insist that everything be put in writing.
   9. Be attentive to details, and make the contract specific.
   10. Ask for contractor and manufacturer guarantees.
   11. Insist that the final and total cost of the job be included in the contract.
   12. Insert a final completion date in the contract.
   13. Don't sign a standardized contract that contains any blank spaces.
   14. Don't hesitate to have the contract reviewed by your lawyer.
   15. Don't make the final payment until all work is completed to your satisfaction, including clean up.
   16. Don't pay cash.

Michael Dell's Rules for Success

Billionaire founder of Dell Computer

1. Think unconventionally. Be prepared to question conventional wisdom.

2. Despise the status quo.

3. Set big goals that just may be do-able.

4. Love change.

5. Focus on your possibilities, not your competitors.

E.W. Scripps Rules for Making Money

Multi-Millionaire Newspaper Mogul

1. Never spend as much money as you earn. The smaller your expenditures are in proportion to your earnings the sooner you will become rich.

2. It is more blessed to pay wages than to accept them. At least, it is more profitable.

3. Never do anything yourself that you can get someone else to do for you. The more things that someone else does for you the more time and energy you have to do those things which no one else can do for you.

4. Never do anything today that you can put off till tomorrow. There is always so much to do today that you should not waste your time and energy in doing anything today that can be put off till tomorrow. Most things that you do not have to do today are not worth doing at all.

5. Always buy, never sell. If you've got enough horse sense to become rich you know that it is better to run only one risk than two risks. You also know that just as likely as not the other fellow is smarter than you are and that whether you buy or sell, in each case you run the risk of getting the worst of the bargain. By adopting my rule you will diminish by one-half your chances of loss.

6. Never do anything, if you can help it that someone else is doing. Why compete with one person or many other persons in any occupation or line of business so long as it is possible for you to have a monopoly in some other field?

7. If circumstances compel you to pursue some occupation or to follow some line of business which is being pursued by some other person, then you do your work in some other way than that in which it is done by the other. There is always a good, better and best way. If you take the best way then the other fellow has no chance of competing with you.

8. Whatever you do once, whatever way you undertake to do a thing, don't do the same thing again or don't do the thing in the same way. If you know one way to do a thing you must know there is a better way to do the same thing.

9. If you're succeeding in anything you are doing, don't let anyone else know of your success, because if you do some other person will try to do the same thing and be your competitor.

10. When you become rich, as you will become rich if you follow my advice, don't let anyone know it. General knowledge of your wealth will only attract the tax gatherer, and other hungry people will try to get away from you something they want and some-thing you want to keep. 

11. One of the greatest assets any man can secure is a reputation for eccentricity. If you have a reputation of this kind you can do a lot of things. You can even do the things you want to do without attaching to yourself the enmity of others. Many an act which, if performed by an ordinary person, would arouse indignation, animosity and antagonism, can be per-formed by a man with a reputation for eccentricity with no other result than that of exciting mirth and perhaps pity. It is better to have the good will than the bad will, even of a dog. 

12. Never hate anybody. Hatred is a useless expenditure of mental and nervous energy. Revenge costs much of energy and gains nothing. 

13. When you find many people applauding you for what you do, and a few condemning, you can be certain that you are on the wrong course because you're doing the things that fools approve of. When the crowd ridicules and scorns you, you can at least know one thing that it is at least possible that you are acting wisely. It is one of the instincts of men to covet applause. The wise man regulates his conduct rather by reason than by instinct. 

14. It is far more important to learn what not to do than what to do. You can learn this invaluable lesson in two ways, the first of which and most inspired is by your own mistakes. The second is by observing the mistakes of others. Any man that learns all the things that he ought not to do cannot help doing the things he ought to do. 

15. Posterity can never do anything for you. Therefore, you should invest nothing in posterity. Of course your heirs will quarrel over your estate, but that will be after you're dead and why should you trouble your mind over things which you will never know anything about? 

16. A man can do anything he wants to do in this world, at least if he wants to do it badly enough. Therefore, I say that any of you who want to become rich can become rich if you live long enough. 

17. After what I have said it goes without further saying that you should save money. But no man can save himself rich. He can only make himself rich. Savings are capital. It is only by doing things that one learns how to do things. It is only the capitalist who handles capital that learns how to handle capital profitably. The more capital you have the more skillful you become as a capitalist. 

18. Fools say that money makes money. I say that money does not make money. It is only men who make money. 

19. There are two cardinal sins in the economic world: one is giving something for nothing, and the other is getting something for nothing. And the greater sin of these is getting something for nothing, or trying to do so. I really doubt if anyone ever does get some-thing for nothing. (Don't marry a rich wife. Women are what they are. At best they are hard enough to get along with. They are always trying to make a man do something that he doesn't want to do, and generally succeeding. When a woman is conscious of the fact that she has furnished all or any part of your capital, her influence over you will be so great as to be the worst handicap you can carry.) 

20. If you're a prospective heir of your father or some other relative, you should also consider that a handicap. I would advise you to refuse to be an heir. 

21. Despise not the day of small things, but rather respect the small things. It is far easier to make a profit on a very small capital invested in any business than it is to make the same proportion of profit off of a large capital. It is true that after you have learned how to make a profit on a business that shows small capital, successively, as your capital grows, you learn how to handle it profitably. Then the time will come when the greater your capital becomes in this way the greater your pro-portion of profits on it should be. And, for an added reason, as your wealth and skill grow rapidly, your so-called necessary expenses grow much more slowly and in time cease to grow at all, so that beyond a certain limit all your income and added income becomes a surplus, constantly to be added to your capital. 

22. It is far easier to make money than to spend it. As it becomes more and more difficult to spend money, you will spend less and less of it, and hence there will be more money to accumulate. 

23. The hardest labor of all labor performed by man is that of thinking. If you have become rich, train your mind to hard thinking and hold it well in leash so that your thinking will all be with but one object in view, that of accumulating more wealth.

Library

Real Estate Principles, Charles J. Jacobus

How to Become Financially Independent, Investing in Real Estate, Albert Lowry

How to Get Rich In Real Estate, Robert W. Kent

Property Management 101

In general, the fewer occupants in a building, the easier the management becomes. If the money is equal, you can rent a four-bedroom apartment, which will attract a crowd, or you can rent the same unit as a two-bedroom with guest room or dining room or library or office and attract fewer people looking for more personal space.

Inspect all apartments before a new tenant takes occupancy. Change the locks. If appropriate, document current condition with digital photos.

Encourage tenant communication. If something is broken you want to know about it before it becomes a major problem. If there is a safety problem or concern, you want to be notified immediately. Follow-up with your tenants after repairs have been made.

Set your rents competitively. It's not what you want but what the market demands. From your research, you may have to temporarily freeze rents and even lower them to keep your good tenants happy. Be smart and do what you need to do. With time, rents like everything else, will increase.

Operational Limitations:

You can't do it alone. The real estate business is a people business. You want to work with people who are good at working with people. You want lawyers with sharp minds and accountants with sharp pencils. You want contractors who are ready and willing to do the work, big job or small job, without any whining or complaining or excuses.

All lawyers and contractors and accountants are not created equally. You want the best on your team. As with your Super Agent, working with the best usually doesn't cost more money and will inevitably save you money and time and aggravation.

The powerful and the well connected come at a higher price. This is a cost of doing business. Pay the premium.

Jargon:

Annual Percentage Rate (APR) - The cost of a mortgage stated as a yearly rate; includes such items as interest, mortgage insurance, and loan origination fee (points).

Balloon mortgage - A mortgage loan that is repaid in fixed, periodic (probably monthly) payments until a given date. On that date, either the balance of the loan becomes due in one large payment or the amount of the payments rises significantly.

Bequeath - To transfer personal property through a will.

Broker - Refers to two kinds of agents: a mortgage broker, who brings potential borrowers together with potential lenders; and a real estate broker, who brings buyers together with sellers. Real estate broker is a professional designation; it requires training and licensing.

Condominium Conversion - Changing the ownership of an existing building (usually a rental project) to the condominium form of ownership.

Convertible Arm - An adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) that can be converted to a fixed-rate mortgage under specified conditions.

Creditor - A person to whom money is owed.

Fixture - Personal property that becomes real property when attached in a permanent manner to real estate

Questions and Answers:

I am planning to sell one of my properties. Should I try to sell it myself or use my super agent?

You want to achieve your marketing objective that is to get the widest possible exposure for your listing and find a qualified buyer.

If you are an agent yourself and have marketing experience, certainly you should sell your own property. Until you have your own license and are associated with a real estate agency, your super agent will probably best serve you. If you super agent is an income property specialist, he or she may have an immediate buyer for your property. Again, focus on your end of the deal and don't worry is someone else is making a buck.

What can I expect after taking this course?

All education is ultimately self-education. I can teach, guide and motivate but ultimately, you much acquire the knowledge and you must take action for yourself and for those you love.

You can expect this program to take you to the starting line. You'll be given enough information, advice, encouragement and recommendations for the first six months of your investing career. Then, you shouldn't need me. You'll be the young eagle, strong enough to fly on your own.

You are a Master of Success. You can do this. You deserve this.

Should I rely on the advice of real estate agents?

If a person is working every day as an agent in the real estate business and he or she hasn't discovered that the way you make big money in real estate is not to sell property to other people but buy it yourself, how smart can that agent be?

With this said, about 10% of agents are useless and are just in the business to pretend they have a job and play dress up. About 70% of agents are pretty average working stiffs trying to make a buck for themselves. The top 20% are your super agents who make a hundred thousand or more each year in commissions. These super agents have lots of contacts and are the only agents that you should consider as your agent. So, go with the top agents and be aware that the other 80% are often more deal obstructionists than facilitators.

In the end, as a Master of Success, you must be self-reliant and listen to all advice and then make your own informed decision.

What is the Mastermind Alliance?

You are not alone. The Mastermind Alliance is an informal way for you to organize on paper your investment team. There are specialized professionals who are ready, willing and able to foster your real estate investment career and help you acquire and manage your six properties. At times, you will need a lawyer, an accountant, a super agent, a plumber, a carpenter, a property inspector, etc. When you need assistance or advice, you pull out your Mastermind list and you make a call. The only dumb question is the question not asked.

You keep talking about buying and selling. What if I want to just buy and never sell?

If you bought and never sold, then you would be following the strategy of New York's Harry Helmsley, who was one of the richest men in the world. Yes, for example, you can buy a property and continue to add value by upgrading and by improving management. Creating additional value gives you the option of refinancing and generating new investment capital without selling.

Are there advantages to investing in condominiums?

Doing the buy/sell history research on specific condominium developments will give you a very accurate opinion of value. For example, in one particular project, you might see that one-bedroom condos sell for $150,000 and two-bedroom condos for $180,000. So, you have a good solid basis from which to make your offers. Most condominium projects hire professional managers and have maintenance staffs on-site or on-call, making life easy for you as an absentee investor.

As an idea, perhaps you send a letter to one-bedroom owners in the complex offering to buy their units for $120,000. Maybe, from your research, you compile a list of those owners who paid $100,000 or less for their units. You might mention that sellers have the option of remaining in the units as your tenants. This is called a sale-leaseback.

Remember, some investors like the excitement of wheeling and dealing and negotiating and some don't. You decide. As long as you end up with six properties, you will be all set and your children will be all set and your grandchildren will be all set.

How did you get interested in real estate investing?

I was a high school teacher in my early twenties when I bought a three-family house. A very short time after buying the house, a broker, Don Nardo, called me with an offer to sell. I sold the property and made more money from that one real estate transaction than I would have made in two years of teaching.

Then, I bought a six family house and a single family. At first, I disliked the tenants in the six-family because they were always complaining. When I complained to Don, he explained the real estate investment business to me, "Bill, you borrow a lot of money to buy properties but you don't have to pay that money back because you have these wonderful people called tenants who pay back all the money for you. You borrow money and other people pay it back. Bill, love your tenants."

Recently, I had a stroke and was forced to retire from the Navy. If I spend any more time at home I'll go crazy. I want to work but I still walk with a limp and my speech is slurred. What about the real estate business?

Real estate investing is a perfect job to consider. Is your money green? Buyers and sellers and agents and bankers and contractors and tenants will welcome the opportunity to do business with you. I cannot foresee any problems that you will not be able to overcome easily. You may not feel too comfortable talking on the telephone, so you email. You may not be able to zip through properties that you are previewing, so you take your time.

You are definitely on to something good here. Do not get discouraged. Start doing your research now. If you are following the Military Action Principles^™ and the Master Success Courses, you should do fine.

How do average people get a started in real estate investing? You make it sound easier than it is.

Average people never get started. Average people buy a house and if they are lucky a summerhouse. That's it.

Who said it's easy? If it were easy than everyone, average people included, would do it and they don't. I will not say it's easy. I will say that it is possible. I will say that if you follow the advice in the Master Real Estate Course that it is probable that you will succeed as a real estate investor.

Yes, you sacrifice. This is what investing is. You take money that you could spend on yourself now and instead put that money to work so that you have more money later.

You get started by working hard. You work harder than average people. They work forty hours a week. You work fifty or sixty or more hours per week. You live on the forty-hour salary and you invest all of the overtime money in real estate. Do you want to know what happens? You get rich and getting rich is not average.

Action Plan:

Get referrals. Name by name, start building a list of influential professionals and contractors in your small specific investment area who can get a mission accomplished.

Get familiar with professional fees for legal, accounting, contracting. Be prepared to pay for the best.

Start making a name for yourself as a serious person with a specific mission.

Support:

• For State by State Landlord-Tenant Statutes: http://www.nolo.com/statute/state.cfm
• For property management software: http://www.rentalprop.com/gita
• For investors in luxury property: http://www.leadingestatesonline.com
• For commercial/investment news: http://www.property.com
• For appraisal information: http://www.appraisalinstitute.org
• For more appraisal information: http://www.appraisers.org
• For land investors: http://www.land.net

Inspirational Insights:

I think selling techniques are basically the same in every country, except there are different cultures that have different methods of negotiating. But real estate is the same, whether it happens to be in Australia or if it happens to be in New York.

George Ross, b. 1928, Donald Trump attorney

The best investment on Earth is earth.

Louis Glickman, business executive

Real estate is an imperishable asset, ever increasing in value. It is the most solid security that human ingenuity has devised. It is the basis of all security and about the only indestructible security.

Russell Sage, b. 1816, financier

No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit.

Andrew Carnegie, b. 1835, industrialist

The best real estate advice I ever has was "buy." When in doubt, buy.

Emily Tannen, VP, A. J. Clarke Real Estate

Without an acquaintance with the rules of priority, it is impossible for the character to be established.

Confucius, b. 551 B.C., Chinese philosopher

This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

Winston Churchill, b. 1874, British prime minister

If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.

Derek Bok, b. 1930, Former president, Harvard University

One may have a blazing hearth in one's soul and yet no one ever came to sit by it. Passersby see only a wisp of smoke from the chimney and continue on their way.

Vincent Van Gogh, b. 1853, Dutch painter

If you think everyone is your customer, then no one is your customer.

Donald J. Trump, b. 1946, billionaire developer

The duties of an officer are the safety, honor and welfare of your country first; the honor, welfare, and comfort of the men in your command second; and the officer's own ease, comfort, and safety last.

General George Patton

He who is firmly seated in authority soon learns to think security, not progress, the highest lesson of statecraft.

James Russell Lowell, b. 1819, American writer

A man who waits to believe in action before acting is anything you like, but he's not a man of action. You must act as you breathe.

Georges Clemenceau, b. 1841, French premier

You must take action now that will move you towards your goals. Develop a sense of urgency in your life.

Les Brown, b. 1945, Motivational speaker

Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.

Thomas Paine, b. 1737, American patriot

Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised.

Denis Waitley, Self-help author

You can't build a reputation on what you're GOING to do.

Henry Ford, b. 1863, industrialist

If you wish to know what a man is, place him in authority.

Yugoslavian Proverb

Take your reputation seriously as it is one of the most essential elements you can exert control over.

Ivanka M. Trump, daughter of Donald J. Trump

Genius is the ability to put into effect what is on your mind.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, b. 1896, American writer

A man's character is his fate.

Heraclitus, b. 540 B.C.