The best-case scenario is to build your investment portfolio within one government district; one city or one town. Then you will be dealing with one building inspector, one housing authority, one board of appeals, one zoning board and a limited number of banks and realtors. These boards and organizations and companies and institutions are all made up of people whom you can befriend and who can significantly aid or hinder your investment plans. It's nice to be nice. It also pays to be nice, so be likeable. Support local winning candidates. In the real world, a contribution to political campaigns buys access. Example: let's say you wish to convert a large house into apartments. The value of that property may differ significantly based on the number of units that you are permitted to create. In other words, permission to create six units may be worth a lot more than permission to create two units. If you were only buying one house, you may not care about the building inspector or the zoning board. But, if you own six properties or ten properties, you find it very useful to know the personalities and idiosyncrasies of your partners in government. If you are wheeling and dealing in real estate, buying and selling on a regular basis, you will definitely need to know your local government cast of characters. Friends in government are an important asset to an ambitious businessperson and can play a key role in your success. |
#!/usr/bin/perl
print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
print << "htmlblock";
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