Posted on October 9, 2007 @ 12:17 am - Written by BawldGuy
My first experience with investment property in Texas came in the ’70’s. Fortunately it wasn’t us, but many pros I knew came back with stories, which if made into movies, would’ve been rated R for financial violence. 
It repeated itself over and over. Seasoned pros coming back from somewhere in Texas with their tails between their legs, telling their tales of woe.
I made a pact with myself — Texas now had an imaginary fence around it, as far as investment goes — and that meant my clients also. No Texas properties. Too risky.
Things just seemed to happen there without much rhyme or reason. Add to that the mystery of why all those veterans came back scarred, and what you get is a So Cal Scaredy Cat. 
Why leave San Diego anyway? All our market ever did was go up, go up some more, pause, and go up again. Over and over and over…
As you’ve read here many times, I’m not a promoter of San Diego income property. It’s a bad investment today, and will only be worse tomorrow. Of course, that’s my way of explaining why Brown & Brown only sells San Diego income property for investors and not to investors. San Diego isn’t the only member of this club by any stretch. I believe, for instance, Las Vegas is now and forever a poor investment destination. Though I will admit they have some exceptions there — just not small income units. How ’bout most of Northern CA while we’re at it? Anyone for a million dollar duplex?
Dead silence ensues.
Josh and I leave for Texas (Dallas) this morning. Yep, the ban is almost officially at an end. Seems Grandma was right — try to avoid saying never and always.
Inner Circle members will be pleased with what we bring back from Texas.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…after we’re finished with the Dallas business, we’re off to Austin to meet the leaders of the Genius clan. Benn and Lani are an unbeatable husband/wife duo who have successfully double-teamed the entire real estate industry this year. Benn is a broker, while Lani, unlicensed by design, takes care of all the marketing.
I liked Lani from the first because she’s an obvious 
graduate of the Attila the Hun school of gettin’ stuff done.
Benn is president of the Real Estate Techno-Nerds — Austin Chapter. His plan is to conquer the Austin real estate market one idea at a time. So far, so good, from my vantage point. I’d sure like to be part of that. (Yea, I know. But that’s what passes for BawldGuy subtlety.)
Can’t wait to meet the Dallas guys — and just know it’s gonna take a week for Thursday to get here, so we can get together with Benn and Lani. Good times.
The weight thing
About a month ago I wrote about losing weight, and investing in real estate. As you would expect, The Purposeful Plan was invoked shamelessly. An update was promised, and this is as good a time as any.
Started out the last couple days of July tippin’ the scales at 195. That ain’t necessarily bad — unless you’re only 5′ 9″. Of course, with a waistline expanded to 41″ and two more chins than I was born with, 195 
pounds wasn’t, ah, working for me.
It’s now been a total of 65 days. Today the scales smiled for me — 165.8 pounds. The waist that ate San Diego? Almost gone — 33½”.
The Plan was thoroughly thought out, and executed with fairly decent discipline. (I gotta say that, right?) It’s been WAY easier than I’d anticipated. But then, that’s the way it is for many real estate investors.
Hold on, Segue coming.
With clearly defined goals — a sense of reality about the current status quo — and a Purposeful Plan — your retirement goals can be achieved. In fact, most of the time they can become reality more quickly than you imagined.
Take some time to sit down and take the first step towards the cool drink with the little umbrella, on the beach…far, far away.
Establish what your current financial status is. Be brutally honest. Don’t skew the picture so badly you turn it into a Sesame Street episode — written by Stephen King. If you can answer an outsider’s questions easily, you’ve probably done a pretty good job.
Before you begin, if you’re married, you and your spouse should write down on separate pieces of paper, what you think your current net worth is. Winner gets to choose what movie you watch Saturday night. Don’t know about you guys, but if winning means I don’t have to watch Beaches — I’m in.
Talk to you later.
Posted on September 19, 2007 @ 1:17 am - Written by BawldGuy
There has been occasional mention on this blog the past several months of special deals, builder discounts, and the like. Between what Josh and I personally negotiate and what, in my opinion, will no doubt be the premier investor site of its kind in the country, our clients are privy to some pretty attractive opportunities.
Though I’m not at liberty to say quite yet, (Brown and Brown’s VP in charge of being under 30 laid the law down.) I’ve been headhunted along with a handful of other brokers around the country, (and I do mean small handful) to take our own handpicked investors and create what I’ve been calling for years — The Inner Circle.
Members of this group will be made aware of opportunities for which the public at large will not be exposed. My firm started this approach as a sort of pilot program earlier this year. It’s been an unqualified success.
How do interested real estate investors qualify? To dispel your first inclination towards skepticism, you won’t qualify by showing up with a pulse and the innate ability to fog a mirror. Not in this or any other lifetime.
Your credit must be acceptable to lenders — and I don’t mean by the skin of your teeth.
You must not only have at least three deals under your belt, but also be able to show at least $50,000 in liquid assets.
What kind of inside stuff are we talking about? How ’bout one we’ve been doing this year in a western state, (younger Brown again being a pain about info) with luxury condos. They’ll be finished in the spring. They’re priced in the low $200’s, 
will rent for above local market rates, and the quality of tenants is already stellar for the first phase units.
Oh, and something else.
Inner Circle members are the only ones who have heard of this, and the only ones who will. Without going into details, our investors are being credited with massive cash at closing. Yeah, right you say — describe massive. OK. Try five figures. Half the members of our Inner Circle, when told of the opportunity, literally asked how many they could buy. So far, none have bought less than two. They’re giddy the deal’s so cool.
So are we.
That project isn’t even the best — not by a long shot. It’s about middle of the road for what we’re talkin’ about here. Between what we’ve found personally, and what the new site has acquired, most regions of the country are already represented.
Again, only Inner Circle members will be made privy to these projects. They won’t be found on this blog, or our site — only by personal communication — us to members.
The reason we have to be fairly picky about the investors we allow in, (and the number will be very limited, probably around 50 or less, then the door closes) is because of the commitments we make with either the developer or builder of the various projects. In our own company’s beta test, we told the builder we’d move the alloted properties in 60 days or less. You can’t make those kinds of statements unless you perform.
Builders and developers aren’t exactly charter members of the second chance brigade. Know what I mean, Verne?
Therefore, the investors we put into these projects must be, more or less golden — at least from the prospective of the seller. Current events in lending, haven’t raised developers’ confidence level either, as you’d imagine.
These opportunities range from pre-pre-construction land, to duplexes, to townhomes, to fixers complete with built-in equity — and more — much more.
Brown and Brown will of course protect our own current Inner Circle members. They’re the cream of the crop, totally vetted by years of experience, and have been kept liquid from day one due to our insistence on significant cash reserves. (Sominex (Ambien) Accounts)
If you’re a serious real estate investor, and are interested, here’s what you can do.
Contact us through this blog by going to the column on the right, at the top — Contact BawldGuy.
Simply let us know you’d like to become an Inner Circle member. If you do this, you will be opting in to email communications from Brown and Brown. The Inner Circle will be constantly kept in the loop when new projects release product to us.
A quick note on what kind of project makes the grade. So far, less than one of thirty have made it to the end of the filtering process. This is true for us personally, and for the investment site of which we are part. Developers must answer literally pages and pages of questions — just to become part of the vetting process. No massive front loaded info — we’re not interested — and their projects don’t get considered.
Also, the deals have to be crazy good in and of themselves, on their own merit. Price alone will not get a project to even ping our radar. All aspects must meet our gold standard, or we pass. Also, all projects are personally inspected, feet on the ground — no exceptions.
Each project will offer from half a dozen to 20-30 properties. Most if not all of them will be gone within two days to two weeks of making our Inner Circle list. It will basically be the quick and the dead. Those who hesitate will literally be lost.
This isn’t for talkers — it’s for doers.
Your communication with us will be kept private — period — and forever. The CIA is jealous of how we keep our clients’ info secret.
The doors to The Inner Circle are officially open.