Monthly Archives: December 2013

Instead of making resolutions you may never intend to keep, may I suggest setting your 2014 goals for your real estate investing ventures?  How many properties do you own?  How many would you like to own?  Here are some things to think about as you are setting 2014 goals;

• Should you sell or exchange in 2014?
• Should you buy?
• Should rents be moved up or down?
• Is it time to change who manages the property?
• Is this the year to catch up on deferred maintenance?
• Have a good tenant?  Maybe it’s time to send them a “thank you” letter.
• Any value-added improvements that could be done?

Hopefully those few things can get you started on your planning for next year.

Real estate investing isn’t supposed to be all that complicated.  But so many times I really believe that real estate investing is for dummies.  And I don’t mean that in a complimentary way.  The shear gullibility of so many would-be investors and/or the shear lack of understanding of the very basics of the numbers cracks me up.  I have to laugh because maybe I should cry.

Example 1
I recently had someone who wanted me to sell properties for them down in the Murder Factory part of Kansas City.  These homes should never have been purchased by a new investors, let alone a new investor from out of state with little knowledge of the area.  Why they were sold to him I cannot understand unless the moral compass of the agent is a little off.  There is simply no way I want to be involved with trying to recoup the losses from bad purchases in the middle of bad rehabs in the middle of a bad part of town, economically speaking.

Example 2
I recently had someone decide to not work with me because I am “defensive” about charging an additional commission for my years of expertise.  Apparently these two new, first time investors who both have professional situations, seem to think that their realtor who can guide them to good properties shouldn’t earn much of a living. They want me to do breakdown analysis for them, identify properties for them and walk them through the contract and buying process  and make less than $600 – $800 because they only want to buy $40,000 (or so) properties.

Now, I’m not mad.  Just amazed.  Astonished, really.  I’ve helped people buy and sell investment property in Kansas City for quite a while now.  I’ve helped people grow and grow their investments and have more positive references than you could positively want.  Over the years I’ve had so many people who didn’t listen to me on the “buy” call me and ask me to help them out with their “sell” because the property turned out to be a mess.

No, I’m not mad.  Just astonished that people keep making the same mistakes over and over.  I wish people could learn from the experience of others.  I wish people could believe a guy that lives on commission when he’s telling them not to buy something.  But I guess human nature being what it is, I’ll still be doing this five years ago and having the same thoughts.  🙂