Ron LeGrand
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When to Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth
Many real estate investing courses and books (mine included) tell you to find a motivated seller. That’s where you get your good deals. As a rule, that’s true. The higher the motivation, the more likely you’re going to get a good price, good terms, or both. But generally, when you find a motivated seller offering a good deal, you should take a moment to “look that gift horse in the mouth.” Ask hard questions about why a seller is motivated.Here are some examples of “good opportunities” that shouldn’t necessarily motivate you to buy.Caveat Emptor: “Let the Buyer Beware”The seller advertises…
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Triple Your Income in the Next 12 Months
We all have choices in life. We can spend our lives making a living or we can choose to make some real money. Unfortunately, most people choose to make a living. They don’t take time and spend their lives walking over the dollars to get to the dimes. Most real estate investors are no different.Oh sure, you’ve decided to either increase your income on a part-time basis or you’ve quit your job and taken the full-time plunge. So what! All that means is you’ve decided to take control of your own financial future and make things happen. I’m proud of…
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The Power Within
I was sitting in the back of a Chicago cab discussing business with Ray Rach. Upon overhearing our conversation, John, the cab driver, interrupted and began telling us his experiences with real estate.It seems he had bought a house a few years ago and resold it for about $100,000 in profit. He was so proud of his accomplishment he took his new-found wealth and opened a restaurant. After about one year in business he not only lost all his money, but some other funds he had borrowed from his family.His story was a sad, but not uncommon one; the story…
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Selling Houses Fast (Part 2)
The first step to success in buying and selling is locating prospects. Without potential buyers it’s very hard to sell houses. Frankly, an ad in the newspaper should be enough to attract plenty of prospects if you know how to write the ad and where to put it.I can’t turn this into an ad-writing course, but any ad that gets prospects to call is a good one. Any ad that doesn’t is a bad one, or it’s in the wrong publication. Make sure your ad gives the prospect a reason to call. Try to include a USP (Unique Selling Proposition):…
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Selling Houses Fast
One of the most common things people fear about getting into real estate is they’re afraid they can’t sell the house and somehow they’ll get stuck with it. I can understand why this would create anxiety for a beginner because they simply don’t have enough facts to overcome the fear. However, if you’re not a beginner and this is still a problem, there’s no excuse for it. So let’s get it fixed right now.The truth is . . . selling should be the easiest part of your businessAre you not buying because you’re waiting to sell what you have first?…
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Quick Cash Profits with Split Funding
This method is well suited to very short term quick-turn deals. As seller financing goes, it is a very simple technique. The investor offers a small amount of the cash to close the deal, with the remaining amount due a few months later, with no interest and only one lump sum payment. You can but a lot of houses with this one technique.The investor repairs the house and sells it retail, which means the new buyer obtains a new loan, either FHA, VA, or conventional. The investor then pays off the previously negotiated seller financing. All you need to do…
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My Perspective on Partnerships
When most people hear the word partners, they think of friends, buddies, pals. But ask any business person whose partnership has stood the test of time what comes to mind and they’ll tell you something else. In the opinion of those who have ‘been there and done that’, the term’ partner’ should not be considered synonymous with ‘buddy’ when it comes to business ventures.There are right reasons and wrong ones for going into a partnership. Then there is the major reason: fear. People are afraid to fail. They’re afraid to have to face their friends if they don’t succeed. But…
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Mortgage Brokers and Short Term Money
The best place to get short-term money is through mortgage brokers, who know what will work and what won’t. They know what they can get on the market today. Some will have access to private funds that require no qualifying by the borrower. Equity in the house is the only concern.Brokers can be a valuable asset. Remember, when I started I had no credit. I had no choice but to use whatever funds where available, so I found a broker who would loan 50% of the appraised price regardless of my financial condition. The cost was high, but the rewards…
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Magic Words That Make Millions
I’ve just finished reading (for the second time) a book called Magic Words That Bring You Riches, authored by my good friend Ted Nicholas, a member of our Board of Directors. Ted has sold over 200 million dollars worth of information products worldwide by direct marketing. Over the years he put together a collection of Magic Words to get people to do things they ordinarily wouldn’t do.In Magic Words, Ted discusses how to do such things as get the best table in a restaurant and first class seats on airplanes. He talks about how to slash the cost of a…
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It Takes Money to Make Money and Other Big Lies
Whoever said it takes money to make money was someone trying to justify why they’re broke. It does not take money to make money, and I’ll prove it. I’ll give you a step by step plan to buy and sell a house, even if you’re absolutely broke, have a negative net worth, no job, no friends, no credit and just got pardoned from the state prison. The truth is, if you can’t make money without money, you can’t make money with money!When I started in 1982, I had no money or credit. I was broke. I had no credit cards,…
