The reality of the situation is that we need to know just enough to get started. Then we must immediately put it to practice in our life, relationships, and businesses. Through the act of putting this new found knowledge into play, you actually learn even more, you make mistakes that force you to continue learning, and most importantly you get the results you are looking for much quicker.
Here is an example of what I did with what I learned at the last Renegade Detroit Investor meeting. Drew and Jared gave a great presentation on building fan pages. It included how to build simple fan pages, create a landing page, implement video into your fan page, setup rss feeds, setup blogs, and most importantly, give your vanity url.

I have never done any of this before in my life. I went home that night and implemented 90% of what they told me to do. I admit I got a little stuck so I had to wait until later that day to get some help. I say later that day because I was up till 4am in the morning. Jared answered a few of my technical questions and I finished the last 10%.

At this point it had been about 15 hours since the meeting. By 9pm at night, 24 hours after the Renegade Detroit Investor meeting I had 31 fans and my vanity url which was awesome.

Check it out here:
Detroit Real Estate Fan Page

The exciting part is I already have people interacting on my fan page and asking me questions. I feel that I will get some business out of this tool very shortly. All of this happened because I immediately implemented what I had learned.

I’m not saying this to brag. Personally, I need to be aggressive with my speed of implementation because I know that if I don’t start right away, it will be the project that never gets done. This is a challenge for me constantly with all of the demands on my time.

So for me to be successful, I must have a high speed of implementation.

For those of you who missed this meeting, I did record a few clips that I posted on Renegade Detroit Investors Fan Page.

Check them out here:
Metro-Detroit Real Estate Club Fan Page

Be a Renegade,
Jeremy Burgess
The Detroit Market Expert

Reminds me of the internet craze of the second half of the ’90′s.

So called experts were predicting then that brick & mortar stores would be put out of business by Amazon.com, Buy.com and other sites like them.  You had to get on the internet or supposedly be nowhere.

Well that eventually proved to be not entirely true.  Today, not every successful business is on the internet, although most are.  Some barely use email, but again most do.

Now the experts are saying you’ve got to be on social media to survive and be successful.

The current 600lb social media gorilla is Facebook.  It just passed Google as the most visited website and has recently announced more features to challenge Google’s search dominance.

Another big social media site is Twitter.

There are thousands of investors on both though, that aren’t seeing any results.

Why?

Before the internet craze, some marketing genius created telemarketing.  It was effective for a few years and then got to be so intrusive they passed laws to regulate it.

The internet came along and soon after another marketing genius created spam.  Again, it was effective for a few years and then was regulated to control it.

Now, we’ve got people doing the same thing with social media.  Some “marketing geniuses” are spamming users of social media intentionally.

What’s scary, is all the people that are UNINTENTIONALLY using social media to spam their followers and connections.

You see, social media is supposed to be about connecting and interacting with people of similar interests.

Take real estate investors.  You want to connect with people that know someone looking to sell or buy property or has money to invest.

Connecting though, isn’t the same as spamming!

We all know what spam is – the sending of solicitations over and over again.

Well, sending out the same message over and over again doesn’t make it not spam just because you’re doing it through social media!

I see so many real estate investors just blasting out their solicitations and accomplishments, thinking they’re connecting with people – but they aren’t.

Do you know Facebook’s strategy to challenge Google’s search dominance?

They’re going to allow users of Facebook to search for topics just like Google, but the results will be based on what your connections “like”.

Stop and think about that for a moment.  Would you rather try or buy something that pops up on Google that someone manipulated SEO to get to the top of Google rankings,

or

recommendations of what your sphere of influence likes?

Now ask yourself, what are you doing to get your sphere to recommend you instead of spamming them into ignoring you?

Beginning real estate investors are no different.  Problem is, many unscrupulous “gurus” know this and peddle their wares to unsuspecting investors.

I remember looking over a course a speaker sent our team as a promotional item.  It was a pretty think book of information, but most of it was so basic it was useless.  The speaker was obviously using the method of “charging by the pound” and stuffing his book with drivel.  You wouldn’t believe how much he was asking for it!

So, how can a new investor not be taken and spend thousands of dollars on worthless materials?  Let’s look at some steps.
1. Don’t Buy on Impulse
Ever hear the saying, only fools rush in?  A lot of the gurus tell you to buy their stuff to get educated so you don’t rush in – but they try to get you hyped up at an event so you rush in and buy their stuff.  Most common tactic is the, “tonight only price”.  Buy it tonight and get it at 20% off, no – 40% off, no – because I like this group I’ll do 50% off my normal price!

Take your time and don’t buy it.  Many of these gurus now have a 30 day money back guarantee that you may also be able to use.

Just be sure not to get all emotionally excited and stop thinking clearly.

In short BE CAREFUL!
2. Be skeptical
People who can’t do, get stuck teaching.

This is not 100% accurate, but in Real Estate Investing the good money is in actually investing.  Ever wonder why so many “gurus” have the time to travel the country speaking instead of investing?  They say it’s because they love to teach and share what they’ve learned with others.  It may be because they failed as investors.  Not always true, but something to think about.
3. Research Before You Buy
If you’re going to an real estate investor meeting, you can usually find out ahead of time who’ll be speaking.  Google them!  Find out who they are and if they have any skeletons.  Then when you go to the event and are tempted to buy their product, at least you’ll have a better idea of what you’re buying.

4. Join The Guru’s Community
Most well respected teachers of Real Estate Investing have blogs, twitter accounts, Facebook accounts, forums or some other semblance of a community.  Join them and check them out. Here are some criteria for a good guru based community

* The guru participates in the conversation frequently (once a week minimum)
* They don’t just try to sell products
* There is an active community of other investors who follow the teacher and can help you
* The teacher will respond to emails or questions in a timely manner (1 week)

If there are active, successful investors participating in the community, then you can be 100% sure that this teacher is the real deal. If all the followers are beginners, just asking questions and only the teacher is there to help out, there is something wrong and I would move on.

5. Can you find the Information for Free?
Almost everything in real estate isn’t a secret.  It can be found online or at a local investment group.  So why buy it?  Well, music is for free on the radio, but we still buy songs.

We only buy songs though that we really like.  The same should apply to guru products.  Do some online research and determine if the material really motivates you like good music.  If it does, than buy it.  Otherwise, look it up online.
Conclusion
In the end, the course you buy will not make you a successful real estate investor.  The real secret is taking action and working hard.  If you buy a course, it will just be a waste of money if all you do is read it or worse – let it sit on a shelf.

Where did all of the inventory go that we had last year? What happened to all of the foreclosures that were coming and all of the inventory that the banks were going to have? I think they still have it. Where else would it go? I can take you down any street in Detroit that has boarded up houses that aren’t for sale. Sure, some of these are just caught somewhere in the process but many of them are just being held by the banks. These houses would have been sold if it were the market 2 years ago when banks needed money but deals with the Government and shored up financials now have the banks sitting on the houses to not flood the market. I don’t know if there was a behind the scenes deal with the government to have them hold on to houses or what but either way, they’re losing out.

What happens to a house that sits in Detroit for 6 months vacant? What about 12 months or 24 months? What I know from experience is the loner it sits, with the poor security that banks use, the more of a chance it will be vandalized or be opened up to the elements. Keeping a house around that long vacant is going to make it pretty worthless. Also, they’re creating a false bottom in our market and false positive signs. That is unless they have endless resources to hold on to the houses and trickle them out over the next 5 years.

I don’t know what’s going on but it doesn’t seem like just a great recovery right now. What do you think?

Be a Renegade,
Jared Pomranky

I see so many people ignore ideas and plans that would make them money in six months for the chance at a instant riches with some new get rich quick scheme. It saddens me because many of these people never try again or worse, they move from one scheme to the next never making any money. We all know these people and many of us have “dabbled” in it ourselves.

Deep down we all know that there are no short cuts to success. My question then is why do we keep looking for the magic pill when we know it doesn’t exist? Because the answer is too daunting and requires so much work and time that we can’t ever see ourselves as actually being rich.

When we sat down to discuss the name of our local investment group, we put a lot of thought into it. We didn’t just pull the name out of the hat. Renegade Detroit Investors was chosen to shake things up and to change the idea of what real estate investment groups can be like. For those of you who attend our meetings, you have had some amazing speakers at various stages of there road to success who have achieved great things. Not once has a speaker given you a get rich quick scheme.

Our Renegade speakers all had one thing in common. They did something every day to get them closer to success. It’s amazing how one thing a day can completely change your life in a few short years. They became Renegades by shunning the desire for instant riches and short cuts to success and focused on doing just one thing a day. We can all do just one thing a day and when you think about it that way, the road and idea of success becomes far less daunting and much closer to becoming a reality.

My father said something to me as a child that sticks with me till this day and it has really helped me keep my expectations in line. “So what if it takes years, you are going to live that long anyway, you might as well be successful.”

Be a Renegade,
Jeremy Burgess

If you believe that you’ve been listening to too many doomsayers that have probably never taken a chance in their lives.

The title of this article was meant to be an exaggeration to get your attention. The tax credit didn’t drive flipping.

Unless you’re practically giving houses away, people right now aren’t willing to take on a payment they can’t afford, especially with the level of unemployment our economy currently faces. Homebuyers learned that lesson by getting burned with “liar-loans” and pick-a-payment adjustable mortgages that were more like pick-your-poison loans. They got stuck with houses they couldn’t afford once – shame on Wall Street. Getting stuck a second time around – not likely to happen.

The $8k tax credit was also not the incentive the government expected it to be. Do you think someone buying a $500k house would pull the trigger because of the $8k they’d get back from the government? Many real estate agents and flippers are hoping the tax credit get’s extended again. Not going to happen unless sales fall off a cliff. The extension of the tax credit after November 1st of last year has not influenced sales as hoped. So why extend it?

The tax credit did probably give a boost to the lower end of the first-time homebuyer market, but that was pretty much about it. In the Detroit Metro area, I’m talking about houses selling for under $160k. Where did I come up with that number? Well the max tax credit of $8k just so happens to be 5% of $160k. How many flippers & sellers would accept an offer of 95% of their asking price in this market? So, how much of an impact is the $8k tax credit going to have on properties above $160k?

On the other hand, how much of an influence would 10% off a $50k price be? Notice I said 10% and not $8k? That’s because the tax credit was 10% of the sales price up to a max of $8k. From the buyers I’ve spoken to in that price range, most didn’t even know about the tax credit or thought they didn’t qualify!

The sweet spot for tax credit influence on the market was probably the $80-$160k range where homebuyers got the most bang for their buck with it. Given the low mortgage interest rate environment though, I don’t expect any post tax credit hangovers to last long. A 1% interest rate increase on a $150k mortgage means a $95 higher payment. An $8k difference in loan amounts is only $43/month at today’s rates. What homebuyer wouldn’t chose to save $95 over $43 per month?

You can also throw in the fact that buyers couldn’t actually use the tax credit to buy a home! They still had to scrape up at least 3.5% to put down to qualify for an FHA mortgage. The tax credit didn’t factor into that whatsoever as they had to buy a home to qualify to receive it later. Currently, the IRS is hand auditing every tax credit request due to all the fraud. It’s now taking at least 6 months to get the tax credit funds.

So let’s see, what reasons are left to believe the end of the tax credit will be a huge negative on the flipping market?

I got the following from Brian Tracy’s book, “Eat That Frog”. What he says is that when you get into work in the morning you need to identify the 1 thing that will make the most significant impact on your business. It may not be something that you really want to do but it’s something that will help your business out the most. You need to sit down and complete that task before you move on to anything else, which includes before you talk on the phone, check email, tweet about reading a great blog or update your facebook status. Get the task done then move on to the next task that will make the most significant impact on your business.

Focusing in this manner will force you to complete your most difficult tasks but also the tasks that will create the biggest impact. You’ll then find that you end up fitting in all of the small tasks in about an hour in between the big tasks. A laser like focus is key in these situations because we have so much that can distract us. So many times when you let something small distract you, you end up skipping from small task to small task and eventually forget what you were doing in the first place!

You don’t have to get it perfect right away but make sure that you realize when you’ve gotten off task and lost focus. In this way you will be able to pull yourself back and see where you lost the focus.

What are some techniques that you’ve found keep you on task and focused?

Be a Renegade,
Jared Pomranky

I think the challenge most people face is the perception that sales is somehow bad or deceitful. The image of the cigar chomping used car salesman comes to mind. Some feel that to sell is beneath them or they worry about how people will view them. The reality is that sales is form of persuasion.

One of my favorite books on sales is “Little Red Book of Selling” by Jeffrey Gitomer. While there are many good and even great books on selling, this book is very succinct, easy to read, and covers the “meat and potatoes” of sales. In it Jeffrey Gitomer covers his 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness.

1. Kick your own ass. Motivation and inspiration is your responsibility, no one else’s.
2. Prepare to Win, or lose to someone who is. Winning requires a plan and preparation. It doesn’t happen by itself.
3. Personal branding is sales: It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you. Be known as an expert in your field. Be known as a resource for your friends and clients. Be known as a hard worker who cares about his clients.
4. It’s all about value, it’s all about relationship, it’s not all about price. If price was only ever the option, only Kia’s would be sold and no one would own a Mercedes.
5. It’s not work, it’s network. You don’t live or work in a void. Meet people, talk to people, help people. Get out there!

For more visit Jeffrey Gitomers website and buy his book “Little Red Book of Selling”. It only costs $20 and it is the best I have found to date.

Bottom line, you’re already in sales whether you want to be or whether you think you are or not. Becoming a better persuader is key to your success in all areas.

Be a Renegade,
Jeremy Burgess

Urban farms are all the buzz and starting to take shape.  There’s some serious talk going on about copying Flint, Michigan’s land bank concept to expedite the re-landscaping of the city.

What will the city look like in the future?

There will be a strong vibrant downtown core surrounded by 5-7 “pod” areas with a inter-dispersion of urban farms, industrial plants and ghost neighborhoods.

Some of the pod areas will be English Village, Corktown, University area, Palmer Woods/Sherwood Forest, & Mexicantown.  They’ll each eventually have their own distinct flavors and demographics.

The challenge will be keeping them connected to the downtown and interconnected with each other.  We may see some of these pods incorporate themselves and become their own cities surrounded by Detroit like Highland Park and Hamtramck.

I see all these changes as a positive as the city needs something to shake it at its core.  Too many Detroiters have a crippling entitlement mentality and will not change their ways without a major pattern interruption.  The city of Detroit needs its own Katrina like event to spur people into action, instead of sitting and sitting and sitting.

Why am I telling a bunch of real estate investors about all this?

Change brings opportunities for those that can envision the future.

The changes coming to Detroit are going to create many wealthy individuals that can see what’ s happening and have the resources to proactively take advantage of the changes.

Where in the city should you be buying real estate?

Be a Renegade,
Drew Sygit

Let me clear up a few misconceptions on email marketing:

1. Emailing to a bunch of people in the BCC field of your email program is not effective email marketing
2. You shouldn’t add someone to your list just because you found their email address, you need to get their permission.
3. More emails is not always better.

Permission Marketing

We’re talking about permission marketing here, props to Seth Godin, which means we’re getting someone’s permission before we add them to our list and start marketing to them. Makes sense. To do this we will utilize a email list marketing company that provides us with easy to use sign-up forms for our website. Also, if we add someone to our list, it sends them an e-mail asking for their confirmation before getting added to our list. This is called a double opt-in list. All of this is building a list of people that are genuinely interested in what you have to offer. If they are no longer interested, they can unsubscribe from your list.

What to send your subscribers

You might think the best thing to send your subscribers is just a list of houses each week of what you’re selling. I’m here to tell you that you won’t keep many people on your list doing that. What about the person that wants to learn a little more about what you do and real estate in the area. They’re not going to buy right now but they will probably buy in a couple of months. Well… you should keep that person involved.

Provide content in your newsletter about investing in your area. Give them the local real estate perspective along with tips for being successful. How about tips on how to buy properties in the area that you’re selling properties or what you have to look out for? Information like this will keep people involved and as you build your list, you’ll start to convert these subscribers to buyers.

You of course want to send them your properties that you have for sale but don’t just spam out your properties to everyone. Add some value to their day with some information and you will end up selling more houses.

Email Marketing Service Recommendation

I highly recommend Aweber as the best list marketing service out there. They not only have the best deliverability rates for their messages but they also have more templates and easy to use form builders than anyone out there. Anyone. Designing and implementing forms on your website and hover forms to capture even more leads is as easy as point and click.

Many people like iContact as a single opt-in list provider, which is fine if you already have a large list of subscribers that you want to upload, but I would still recommend Aweber. Urban Detroit Wholesalers switched to Aweber a couple of years ago and although we lost some subscribers, the move has been more than worth it.

Either list service will be good to get going so check out either iContact or Aweber to get your list marketing going now. You will see your sales soar.

Be a Renegade,
Jared Pomranky