BloodhoundBlog

There’s always something to howl about.

Author: Jeff Brown (page 7 of 15)

Real Estate Investments Broker

May 28, 2009

Transparency — Newest Weapon Of The PC Crowd

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Real Estate Investments Broker

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Transparency in real estate brokerage has gone from a truly noble concept to a weapon sometimes lethally wielded by the PC crowd. Most notably bullies coming forth claiming to possess Holy Script describing transparency, no doubt salvaged from what must be the third tablet lost by Moses on his way back down the mountain.

Transparency is honest dealing from a basis of rock ribbed integrity — nothing more and nothing less. The rest is self righteous dung.

I dare you to demand to know what your dentist, doctor, CPA, attorney et. al. are netting from fees they charge you for their services. What a joke — a bad joke, but a joke nonetheless. Who do these buncha Kumbaya, hand-holding yahoos think they’re kiddin’ anyway? Transparency my ass. They want information their parents/grandparents would’ve had the good manners never to seek in the first place. Why? Cuz it’s none of their damn business and they knew it. Of course that begs the question that so much of what they ask for is wholly irrelevant.

When shopping for a doctor, what’s important to you? Is it ultimately expertise, experience, cost, or how much he’s netting? Do you divide there fees by the time spent with you? When you read that, doesn’t it come off as a stoopid question on its face? Dunno about you, but when deciding upon a service provider I look first and foremost for results. (Oops, there I go again, lobbying for a business world based upon merit.) If there’s more than one provider on that short list, then we get down to a more detailed examination — comparing the aforementioned, here’s that pesky word again — RESULTS.

My favorite uncle just had successful minor (oxymoron?) heart surgery. He’s a pretty smart guy, one of the smartest I’ve ever met in person. Please tell me without stuttering or launching a personal attack, how knowing his surgeon’s profit margin, or any info like that, would’ve aided him in deciding who was gonna repair his heart? And pretty please, don’t bring me the usual weak crappola about ‘how can Read more

May 18, 2009

Nothin’ New Under The Sun — Especially If I’m Involved

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Real Estate Investments Broker

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I learned early on in my career I had no problem whatsoever taking others’ ideas and running with ’em like a thief out of a 7/11 carrying a paper bag full of ones and fives. I’m BawldJapan — I can take your idea, tweak it for my uses, and most of the time make it work to some degree. Ideas don’t have to be new, or even perceived as cool — they just have to work. What a concept — excuse me a sec while I write that gem down.

For the record, often times epiphanies for me are just empirical evidence I may have arrived at grammar school via the little bus. I’m reminded of my never ending irritation with the various business magazines aimed at entrepreneurs. Two lifelong best friends succeed wildly with a Mexican restaurant in their hometown, and are interviewed by Peter S. Small of Entrepreneurs and Stuff.

“Tell me guys, to what do you attribute your wild success?” “Well Peter, one day we were lamenting the dearth of high quality, affordable Mexican restaurants in Southern California. Then it came to us like a flash! We’ll do our own, and we’ll do it right. The rest is history.” You KNOW you’ve read those interviews too. You can’t swing a dead cat in SoCal without hittin’ an affordable Mexican restaurant with good food.

I’m now about to take what I’ve been saying here for quite awhile to house agents, into what I do. The concept of hyper-local has been cussed and discussed into oblivion. This isn’t about that exactly. This is about taking something that’s traditionally been done on a much larger scale, and narrowing it down to its lowest common denominator. Or something like that. It’s nothing new, and you may have even tried before.

For years I generated impressive business volume using direct (mass) mail — it was always successful, once we figured out the winning formula. From 1987 ’till around 2004 or so, no letter sent out yielded less than five figures worth of closed escrows. A few resulted in six figures. Then it stopped Read more

May 12, 2009

Why Aren’t There ‘Guys Nights’ At Bars and Clubs? Duh

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Real Estate Investments Broker

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The logic is so simple, and the result is usually so predictable, having a ‘Ladies Night’ at the local bar or club is a no-brainer. The more foxy ladies there are, the more guys there’ll be to buy ’em drinks etc. Why else would a local bar be packed on a Wednesday night? Gimme a break.

Listings are our foxy ladies. If worked correctly, every night is Wednesday — if you’re a lister. Look, for the record, guys go to bars on Ladies Nights ‘cuz it makes sense to hunt in a guaranteed target rich environment, right? Same with real estate buyers — they tend to congregate where the listings are.

But let’s look at this through the Ladies’ eyes.

They’re the magnets and they know it goin’ in. From bank owned Barb to rehabbed Richelle to young and perky Pamela, they congregate together, knowing there will no doubt be more than enough guys to go around. There’s usually all kinds of gals for all kinds of guys. But make no mistake — no gals? No guys.

Buyer’s markets are what I often describe as a ‘get while the gettin’s good’ situation. Sellers, if possible, tend to stay home when they realize for every buyer there could literally be dozens of houses from which to choose. This is why you won’t find bars lasting long with an extreme undersupply of ladies. Though guys are surely an integral part of the equation, women are in the driver’s seat with rare exception.

This is even true when the gals out number guys on a given night. You know I’m right. See the trio of lovely young ladies over in the corner? They’re all pretty nice, but geez-a-lou, look at the one in the middle. Absolute perfection — a vision of everything that is feminine pulchritude. You think she’ll have a tough time meeting a cool gentleman even though the ladies out number the men 5-1? Yeah, me neither.

This is all my very roundabout way of pointin’ out the obvious. Buyers are a huge part of my business, no doubt about that. But Read more

April 27, 2009

The Perfect RE Investment vs A Million Monkeys

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Real Estate Investments Broker

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I write this note as a quick reminder. Investors in buyers’ markets as extreme as we’re currently experiencing will sometimes fall victim to what I’ve called ‘Million Monkey Syndrome’. I suffered from it when I was young and thought nothing was impossible for me in a market full of highly motivated sellers. It was through a marketing experience of all things, that I learned to recognize the signs of MMS.

Back in the day, one of the ways I used to market was through very narrowly targeted mail. Only investment property owners were on the list. I quickly found out what generated calls and what didn’t. The problem? It was a tad difficult to always have the ‘perfect’ small income property for sale. 🙂

A solid response rate according to direct mail pros would be 1/2%. Back then my average mailing wasn’t large, maybe 1,500-3,000 letters. The average response rate was almost always at least 1/2%, and many times 1-2%.

Then I sent The Letter.

It generated just over a 4% response rate for 3,000 pieces mailed. The calls started on Tuesday, and by Thursday I’d developed a love/hate relationship with my phone. 🙂 By Friday my assistants were afraid to answer it.

What magic words caused this embarrassment of riches? Turns out I’d discovered what made the East County (EC) small income property investor get very excited. The letter told them of a La Mesa (most desired area in EC) duplex that could be purchased with 10% down. Also, the owner would carry secondary financing. And the duplex needed some TLC, because it was a ‘cosmetic fixer’.

A light fixer in the most desired area, with owner financing and only 10% down! I’ll take a dozen to go please.

There hasn’t been one of those available since the year I sent that letter — 1999.

For the record that very letter generated over $250,000 in commission income. It remains the all time best producing letter I’ve ever sent.

I’m taking the out-of-the-way scenic route in order to say this:

Stop wasting your time and therefore your money looking for the perfect property or situation. The stars don’t Read more

April 8, 2009

Do Clients Spell Service R-E-S-U-L-T-S? Bet They Do

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Real Estate Investments Broker

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Lately I’ve wondered if some of you have noticed the same thing I have. I’m talking about the how the concept of service has been elevated to somewhat of a deified state. Giving superior service is always part of an excellent business plan, but it seems to me it’s reached critical mass as it relates to the profitable use of our time.

For the record, one of the most repeated observations we hear from prospects and new clients is how much time we spend with them answering questions, both asked and unasked. Or for how quickly they receive responses to emails or voice mails. How we take care of Murphy when he shows up. Though we do serve some damn fine coffee in our office, our clients understand where our real value resides. We get them from Point A to Point B — a lot easier said than done. They don’t waste our time, and we freely give them ours. They know we’re available to them without explanation, and it’s much appreciated. When there are problems, we don’t look for who to blame, we solve it. Then we locate the culprit. 🙂

Last week I wrote a quick post about The Eight Hour Day which generated comments taking the topic on a side trip — not an uncommon occurrence here. It was a worthy detour, as some Bloodhound contributors chimed in with their thoughts. The spinoff topic was time spent servicing ongoing clients. Tom Vanderwell asked this question — How do you balance the “maintenance” of clients with the need for marketing time?

Sean Purcell jumped in with this answer.

You don’t.

I know that sounds flippant, but the two do not balance. One is an absolute necessity, like breathing, and the other is something you do as part of your job — for now. They truly are that far apart in importance.

Marketing is the life blood of your business… (emphasis mine)

I don’t know how to say that any better. Truth is what it is.

But my gripe with all the talk about giving ‘world class’ service, or, ‘we spoil our clients’, is that in Read more

April 2, 2009

The Eight Hour Day

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Real Estate Investments Broker

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Some on these pages, me included, offer various methods, systems if you prefer, to produce a larger and more reliable income in the real estate business. I have my way, others have theirs. The smart ones literally couldn’t care less how the other guy does it as long as the cat skins keep showin’ up on the wall. Oh, they may care enough to adopt others’ techniques, making it their own, but in the end, they care about puttin’ smiles on the faces of their wives and bankers. A lesson I learned from Grandma long ago — one of the most reliable gages of how well you’re doing at any given time is if both your banker and your wife are consistently happy to see you coming.

Let’s skip the M.O. today, and talk more on how your work week is really playing out. There it is, the room is now so quiet, you can’t hear yourself think above the din of the crickets. I’ve given, heard, made fun of, been shamed by, and shaken my head at the explanations given for so called ‘work weeks’ a myriad times.

It’s Thursday as I publish this, so it might be Friday or the weekend as you read it. Look back over your week, and honestly assess how many hours you spent ‘working’ for which you wouldn’t be embarrassed to charge more than $10. It’s my contention most full time real estate agents haven’t worked eight hours in one day doing what Dad used to call ‘actual productive, billable work’. One night at dinner he bluntly declared that the next time I work 40 billable hours in one work week would be the first. Ouch.

What agents do to avoid real nuts and bolts work need not be listed in detail here. I know what you do, because I did it. Constantly getting ready, getting ready to get ready, preparing, waiting for information, setting this or that new project up, blah blah blah. I’m convinced most never fully realize how much their words come out sounding like, ‘My dog ate my Read more

March 26, 2009

Hey Sunshine! Tell Me About Your Day

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Real Estate Investments Broker

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I’ve not only been a broker since January of 1977, but the designated broker since then too. For those not familiar with the term, a designated broker is the one with the dotted line drawn on their neck. The buck stops with the DB. Though not all DB’s are office/company managers, my guess is most are. Ironically, in my first decade as a DB the only thing I was allowed to be in charge of was the coffee room, as Dad pretty much called the shots back then — as he should’ve. Besides, who puts a 25 year old in charge of a real estate investment firm? I generally rated solid reviews as Executive Vice President of coffee room operations.

When Dad finally rode into the real estate sunset, making golf the only line on his daily to-do list, it fell to me to be the DB more than just on paper. Calling Brown and Brown a small firm is the working definition of redundant, as the most folks we’ve ever had working, including me, is four — counting the secretary. However, shortly after Dad’s handicap began it’s downward descent, I was headhunted by a local C/21 owner to create and run a separate and unattached commercial division. I was 35, and ready for a challenge. Creating something from scratch appealed to me.

This post’s title is how Dad used to greet me as I walked into the room, when I was asked to join his cadre of old merciless bastards at the 19th hole. This happened about three times a week, and was literally a graduate course in real estate, management, business in general and performing under pressure. I learned pretty quickly my job was to share my fries, speak when I was spoken to, and most of all, listen. There were about 16 of ’em. They were affectionately known at the club as The Bandits, as they regularly schooled the assistant pros, often leaving the poor guys poorer.

In this group were three former real estate board presidents, land, income property, and leasing specialists — all but one who’d been DB’s Read more

March 20, 2009

Priced Well? No Offers — Not Even Insulting Offers? My 2¢

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Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

Greg Swann just published a post lookin’ for help from the professional community for one of our own. Barry Bevis, a Realtor in Tallahassee, has a listing that’s been giving him fits. He and several knowledgeable agents around town are in agreement — the current listing price is where it should be. The house is well kept. The lot is over a third of an acre. Very nice yard, and a hot tub. He’s done just about everything right to get this puppy into escrow. Its own site. Buncha cool pictures. Even had a custom sign made. Still, no sale.

No sale? Not even an insultingly low offer.

I went to the listing’s site. Plenty of info, and many photos, easy to navigate, and easy to get ahold of Barry. He obviously cares, and has clearly gone the extra mile as he markets this home. So what’s the problem? What might be going unaddressed?

Before continuing, let’s be real here. We’ve all been where Barry is with this listing. How many of us have scratched our heads, totally mystified by a listing that simply seems to defy a mountain of empirical evidence dictating it should’ve sold a dozen times by now? I have, many times. It’s maddening. Shortly after studying what Greg Swann does to market his listings, I had an epiphany — well, actually two. For me it was a good news/bad news joke. On one hand I was elated to have stumbled onto such a gold mine — which is surely what it is. On the other hand, I felt like such a doofus as I mentally compared his method to mine. But as often admitted, I’m ‘Japan’. I’ll steal anything cool and make it mine — screw my ego. Thanks Greg

First, I realized as experienced as I am, and as many properties as I’ve sold in the nearly 40 years of my career, I still couldn’t carry Greg’s jock when it came to the nuts and bolts of marketing listings from A to Z. The guy is head and shoulders above anyone else I’d studied.

Then the second epiphany hit Read more

March 4, 2009

Biz Model Schmiz Model — It’s About Quality — The Rest Is Happy Noise

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Real Estate Investments Broker

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NASA hasn’t invented the device sensitive enough to measure the apathy I harbor for what business model other real estate firms use. In fact, taking it a step farther, I’d probably have to climb up several rungs on the ‘I care’ ladder to reach apathy on that subject. Fair enough?

Whether you like the model Grandpa used in 1951 or any of the new ones currently in beta testing, there’s one concept from which they all could prosper.

Old School mentoring. And before you stifle that yawn, ask yourself a question.

As a kid playing youth baseball, would you have been a better hitter if your coach had been an ex-pro ballplayer?

I coached under four former pro players, and trust me, the difference ain’t real difficult to discern. One of ’em had been a catcher in the Japanese minors a few years before hangin’ ’em up. Guess who always had the best catchers in the league? In the 13-14 league the pitcher with the hands down best change-up was the kid whose dad went to the ex-pro pitcher for help. Duh.

I wonder what Rodney Dangerfield would say if he was a newbie agent with an assigned mentor in the average real estate brokerage? I think I know.

“Hey — Take my mentor, please!”

For the years I spent as a broker-associate with a huge San Diego brokerage firm, I was able to observe first hand what passes for mentoring. Long story short? The office manager quietly pulled me into the office one day. Seems the agents in charge of the mentor program (usually around 24 new agents) were complaining to her because their charges were beating a path to my office for help. 🙂 Not being schooled in politically correct speech, I asked her why she was talking to me, and not grillin’ her ‘mentors’ as to why their students consistently ignored them so as to get the scoop from me.

She explained how I was undermining the mentor’s position of authority. I replied that their authority was possibly a figment of their imaginations. This was not well received. And for the Read more

February 21, 2009

Changing Your Own Hi-Tech Oil — Who Cares? — Is There A Skinned Cat Or Not?

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Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

Greg’s post earlier today prompted me to respond via post rather than comment. He made some superb points, and one or two for which we’ll have to agree to disagree. He quoted me from my earlier post:

If you honestly believe your income is higher with you spending time changing your own hi-tech oil, then continue along that path — it’s obviously working for you. On the other hand, if you think putting yourself in front of 50 more serious prospects a year might be more productive for your bottom line, AND that would make you happy, you may want to modify your approach.

He said it was a false dichotomy.

It’s not a false dichotomy at all. We disagree on the basic satanic nature of vendors as a species. My car for example is easily more complex than most, and I don’t have a clue how to service it, including changing its oil. (Though I’ve changed oil on many of my previous cars.) I simply found the right guys to call. They service it while I drive one of their cars. I don’t have much down time. The same vendor has been servicing the car since summer of ’04 with spectacular results, and at a very fair price.

His second point is well taken, and we don’t disagree. As my post indicated, I’m a hi-tech marketing Kool-Aid drinker. Anything producing six figures annually has my full enthusiastic endorsement. But I compare it to the concept car. It’s cool, but it ain’t here yet, at least to the degree Greg and others predict. It’s not that I don’t think he’s correct, I do. It’s that it’s not producing the volume now that it surely will in the future.

Meanwhile, as Chris said so well in his comment, I’m using what works. And all debate aside, I’ll get belly2belly with more folks/year and do more deals 1.0 than most 2.0 practitioners do in three years. Are there some exceptions out there? Of course, there always are. Good on ’em because they’re demonstrating what’s possible. But current reality shows bottom lines aren’t being impacted in a Read more

February 20, 2009

Real Estate Brokerage Is Rocket Science — NOT

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Real Estate Investments Broker

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Show of hands. How many real estate brokers/agents reading this were recruited by M.I.T.? Crickets. Yeah, thought so. Me neither. I can spell technology. I’m not a TechnoGeek by anyone’s flimsy definition. Folks who know me are laughing at the thought. My blog? I know how to write posts then click the publish button.

I realize the online community by nature is composed of a far higher percentage of technologically gifted people than the population in general. Really, I get that. But they talk to each other so much about how wonderful this app is vs that app, they don’t realize the Gomer down the hall who’s making half a million a year by physically farming, or God forbid, calling people on the phone, avoided more in income taxes last year than they grossed.

Don’t get me wrong, some of my best friends are Geekoids. That’s what they do — help guys like me. If they studied what I did for a year, they still wouldn’t know half of what I’ve forgotten. Same with me and what they do, except I could study into my next three lives and still fall short. This isn’t about right or wrong. This is about how much you want to earn, and how you’re gonna skin that many cats.

I’m in the business of investment real estate. You a broker/agent? What business are you in? I’m not gonna belabor the point of hours spent on activities you’ll claim are directly related to your bottom line. The only thing related to your bottom line is closed escrows. The rest is what makes you feel good about doing what you were gonna do anyway. And for the record, if messin’ around with the hi-tech part of your business floats your boat, more power to you. But pulllease stop trying to convince yourself and others it’s time well spent. Write that speech, print it, put it in the crosscut shredder, then spread it on your lawn. Before long you’ll have the greenest grass in town.

Let’s bring the dirty little truth about hi-tech in real estate out in Read more

January 17, 2009

Hittin’ Fat Fastballs — Diggin’ For Gold — Skinnin’ Cats

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Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

I remember something a great football coach once said. He’d been asked about the vanilla offense he ran, and how defenses were shedding old fashioned ideas, and learning how to stop tradition offenses with ease. He said, “Let ’em do whatever they need to. If my guys block their guys, we win.” That coach was a 1.0 guy if ever there was one. 🙂 I bring that up only as a preface to what my point is today.

It’s still all about skinned cats. It’s amazing how many are still calling guys like Chris dinosaurs. I’m sure his feelings are mortally wounded as he cries his way to the bank every month. Much like USC football coach John McKay replied when asked about his ‘student body left, student body right’ running game. Said Coach McKay: “When they find a way to stop it, I’ll try something else.” His boring, predictable offense produced multiple Heisman Trophy winning running backs.

Chris Johnson stimulated some pretty productive give and take with his last couple posts. Chuck Marunde and I joined in with our own thoughts on the subject. Where Chris was in his glory talkin’ about his use of Ma Bell’s favorite toy, Chuck was lamenting his local market’s dreary numbers. And dreary might be an optimistic description. He was up to here with high maintenance owners on sloooow moving listings. Me? I think Chris is a born cold caller, one of those rare people who knows the percentages, shrugs his shoulders, then works ’em, all the while wondering why his competition can’t see the gold too.

Chris’s core message as I see it is this: If he told you that digging a 100 three foot holes a day would uncover a pot of gold a week, every agent with a pulse would be grabbin’ gloves, a pick & shovel and headin’ out the door. Why? Because they’d be thinkin’ of the year’s worth of gold they’d have by consistently diggin’ those daily 100 holes, right? You know that’s true. Yet in real life they don’t, do they? Those who won’t dig understand why, Read more

January 12, 2009

A Company Full Of Chris’s? 2.0 Makes Money While 1.0 Makes MONEY

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Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

Where to begin? Chris, you remind me of myself 35 years ago. You know, before I learned what couth meant. 🙂 If you haven’t read Chris’s latest effort, it’s not long. It’s all about him payin’ the bills kickin’ booty via 1.0.

Payin’ the bills? Here’s some perspective. Chris made more money in the hell hole known as ‘any city in Ohio’ than the sophisticated, whining posers in San Diego who’re still pullin’ down over $10,000 a deal. ‘Course they’ll never know that. It’s so hard to read through teary eyes or hear through the din of constant whining and complaining.

I remember, mostly fondly, agents smiling condescendingly at the 18 year old calling all the FSBO’s every weekend from breakfast ’till dinner. “Why’s his daddy forcin’ him to waste so much time gettin’ his head bashed in?” For the record, I listed a FSBO six hours into my career. I had just over zero talent, and the bulk of my ‘knowledge’ of the business was embodied in the state licensing test I’d just taken. I just did what I was told would produce results. And what’a’ya know? They were right.

Six years later folks told me knockin’ on the same doors every month was a waste of time. They’re still tellin’ me that. ‘Course they never had their car nearly run off the road twice by homeowners who couldn’t wait another week to see you so they could list his homes now. Most agents will do anything under the sun to avoid going one on one with a stranger who might tell them to go to hell — or provide them a skinned cat for their wall.

Then from the late 80’s thru the early 21st century, they harangued me about all the time I spent sending out direct mail.

Chris makes the best points of the young new year when it comes to creating new business.

1. 1.0 still rules the real estate world. Period. There might be an exception here and there, but they simply prove the rule. Will 2, 3, 4….27.0 take over? Some day, but not real soon. I Read more

January 9, 2009

Silver Lining of Real Estate Market Correction Hiding In Plain Sight

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Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

Gonna be down and dirty today with a strategy real estate investors aren’t using nearly as much as they should. I wrote a post on the subject on my own turf, but thought it important and valuable enough to give it some visibility here. The results this strategy can potentially produce are, in my experience, sometimes pivotal in getting retirement goals back on track, or even more dramatically, raising them from the dead.

So many real estate investors own many properties. They’re located in different areas. sometimes different parts of the country. Some were acquired long ago, some, not so long ago. Some in areas blessed with ungodly appreciation — some that dropped like the anchor on the USS Ronald Reagan 20 minutes after escrow closed.

Earlier this week I spoke to an investor wanting to know how to get out from under some losing income properties. They were worth less than he paid for them, but there was still some equity there if he were to sell them. Further questioning revealed his portfolio also had some long term winners that had increased in value impressively over the years, even after nearly four years of the current brutal market correction.

This is one of those silver lining strategies that should really be looked at as the perfect silver lining storm.

Told this investor he should sell ’em all this year, and to get started around 4:30 yesterday afternoon. Now, of course that doesn’t mean everyone should take that route, but the strategy is as follows.

Long term capital losses (held more than a year) offset long term capital gains. Simple as that. If, for example, you own a couple props bought with bad timing, that will produce losses, those losses will offset the gains on your gold medal props. This approach will yield many different very positive results — the escape from capital gains taxes being just one — and sans the use of a tax deferred exchange. How cool is that? The various perks are listed in the linked post. Not all of the cool potential results are listed, as Read more

December 26, 2008

Over $100? You Better Improve My Friggin’ Bank Account!

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Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

I was inspired to write this post as I read the comments on Brian Brady’s recent post on Cyber Pros… The conversation turned to the relative value of various barcamps, seminars, and conferences. As you might’ve guessed I have some thoughts on the subject. Go figure.

I’ve attended seminars etc. since the mid-70’s. Back then, and until the internet created its own mushroom cloud of ‘experts’, they existed for the sole purpose of sending you back home better off than when you arrived. In those days the seminars were taught by the giants of the industry. I spent much of my late 20’s attending seminars in awe of the speaker. Unfortunately that’s not so these days.

From 1976 through about 1999 I was able to rely on coming away with much more than fool’s gold or networking opportunities when I laid my money down on seminars, or conferences. The gold standard (pun intended) was in 1980 when I completed the intense/expensive six day long CCIM courses, all five of them then. The info I learned and applied in those five weeks was phenomenally effective, salient, and results oriented. They were there to teach — and let the chips fall where they may. The failure rate for CI 101 back then was about 50% — with an open book final. That’s real. They didn’t, and still don’t tolerate posers.

I don’t know a single soul from those courses to this day.

Of course, if I’d taken them recently, that wouldn’t be the case. I’d of been better off having networked with classmates. But given the choice of either or? Give me the information, the knowledge, the ability to successfully apply every time. Though I attended investment real estate seminars like a groupie back in the day, nothing impacted my ability to produce positive results for my clients and my business more than the CCIM classes. Nothing, not even close.

I’ve been to a couple barcamps. The cost is usually so low, from free to $100 or so, that if I take away the proverbial ‘one nugget’ plus the cool networking, I’m a happy ‘camper’. I Read more

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