My friend Preston Ely passed along a pretty good investing tip this week. 

If you’re a real estate investor - or just an average human being - and your life is not currently being influenced by his weekly newsletters, you need to get on Preston’s mailing list here.

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I was watching an interview with Warren Buffet the other day.  It was pretty interesting.

Interviewer: Does it make sense to buy houses as investments right now?

Warren: Sure it does. So long as you buy with VALUE built in.

Therein lies the key, my friend.  Real estate is still the best and most secure investment to be had… so long as you buy with value.

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Posted on Sunday, 17th August 2008 in Real Estate | Comments (0)

I just found out one of our Teamwork Lead System Community Leaders, Charles Blair, has closed 3 bird dog-generated deals up in Maryland in the last 3 months. He and his partner Marcel are doing WORK all across Maryland. They’re true real estate junkies!

Here’s their great house hunter training blog: http://www.MarylandHouseHunters.com

I don’t know how he has the time between running the business, helping other TLS members with his 15 years of experience, and generally loving life… but I believe he does a bit of real estate mentoring as well. You’ll definitely want to get in touch with Charles if you’re anywhere near the Maryland area.

Posted on Thursday, 14th August 2008 in Real Estate | Comments (0)

This time, a standard $5,000 wholesale flip by Jason in Houston. No copy of the check on this one, but Jason says:

“I am very pleased with the Teamword Lead System for tons of reasons. 1. It has already paid for itself 10x, I closed on a lead brought through the system for a $5000 assignment fee within the first few months. 2. I have over 150 bird dogs now who are scouring my market for me bringing me leads every day. And 3. I would buy the system just for the organization. You can put ALL of your leads in this system for one simple, easy to use storage of your leads and their status.

The product is definitely worth it. You will more than pay for years it with the first lead you close on.”

Jason runs a blog at WholesalingTips.com.. check it out & give him some love. He’s adding more & more great content there.

If you’re a real estate investor, learn more about what the Teamwork Lead System can do for you at http://www.TeamworkLeadSystem.com or check out The Virtual Bird Dog Blueprint now!

Posted on Thursday, 14th August 2008 in Real Estate | Comments (0)

As I was driving to my cousin’s baby luau this afternoon, I was listening to ESPN Radio as I often do.

Legendary Washington Redskins cornerback Darrell Green was giving his NFL Hall of Fame induction speech. He had a number of former friends, family, coaches and players to thank, and he briefly talked about his path from junior high through the NFL.

But it was the last thing he said that struck me, and I’ve been thinking about it all day.

Green’s very last statement — as he stood upon the pinnacle stage that ALL football players aspire for — was this:

“At the risk of sounding self-righteous, I belong here.

I belong here because I know what to do with this. With God’s fame… with God’s visibility… with God’s success.”

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Posted on Sunday, 3rd August 2008 in Business, Faith | Comments (0)

Startled?

Don’t worry… this isn’t going to be any sort of scandalous, adults-only blog post! I just wanted to share a few recent lessons learned from the billionaire mastermind of the Virgin Group and the world’s greatest entrepreneur: Sir Richard Branson.

I just finished his autobiography, which shares the title of this post. It was a gift from a great friend & CEO of RealEstateInvestor.com, Colin Egbert.

While Branson’s early sexual promiscuity (he actually “wife-swapped” with his friend for a weekend) and his failure to recognize God as God certainly temper my respect, you can’t help but admire the way he did business.

Here are 8 notes I scribbled as I read the story of his success from 1950-2001…

1. A huge key to Branson’s success was his ability to leverage debt and protect his downside. For many years, the Virgin Group consistently overdrafted millions of dollars to finance their ventures. Why were banks willing to do this? Because of Branson’s uncanny sense of choosing the RIGHT ventures and his track record of success. Each of these ventures involved tremendous risk, but Branson was never without an awareness of where the risks were and rarely without a contingency plan.

2. He never shied away from competition. In fact, he seemed to thrive off of it. He entered the airline industry with a single plane when British Airways was dominating UK market share and eliminating smaller competitors left & right. He launched Virgin Cola, knowing that Coke and Pepsi held 70%+ of worldwide market share but seeing small weaknesses that he could exploit.

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Posted on Sunday, 27th July 2008 in Books, Business, Life, Marketing, Real Estate | Comments (0)

I sent this email to the Teamwork Lead System community last week, but it’s worth posting here as well…

I wanted to share a quick wholesale tip that I picked up a couple weeks ago at the Virtual Investing Seminar.

Someone - and I can’t remember who, so I apologize! - mentioned that he always markets his wholesale deals via flat fee MLS listings.

The key, he said, is to include in your purchase contract:

“Seller gives Buyer (you) the right to relist the property with an agent of your choice”

He said this particular clause has NEVER prevented a seller from signing the contract with him.

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Posted on Friday, 18th July 2008 in Real Estate | Comments (0)

At the Virtual Investing Seminar a couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to meet Caroline… a Teamwork Lead System Investor from New Orleans. She had started using the system a couple months before and she had previously emailed to tell me she closed 2 wholesale deals in her first 30 DAYS with the system.

That’s $11,000+ in her pocket. Here are the scanned checks she sent me..

Well guess what… as I’m talking to her on Saturday, she gets a call & learns that her third bird dog-generated deal is under contract. That’s another few grand she’s expecting.

Sunday, I’m on stage speaking & I mention Caroline’s story. As I do this, a guy yells out that she just put 2 MORE freakin deals under contract THAT morning from our system.

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Posted on Friday, 18th July 2008 in Real Estate | Comments (0)

If I asked you to picture the “archetypal man,” who comes to mind?

By archetypal man, I mean a man who epitomizes everything a man was meant to be.

Who comes to mind? Stop and think about this.

How about Clint Eastwood? George Clooney? Russell Crowe? Denzel Washington?

It’s probably difficult to think of 3 men you actually have personal contact with because “real men” are - indeed - hard to find. Can I get an amen, ladies??

The problem is that, for most of us, Jesus probably didn’t immediately pop into your head.

Why is that?

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Posted on Sunday, 13th July 2008 in Books, Faith, Life | Comments (0)

I’ve always felt that the best comedians are the ones who put into words things that you’ve already observed about the world, but that - to that point - you’ve never actually put into words yourself.

They’re funny simply because they make you realize “that is so incredibly true.”

Chris Rock. Sinbad. Jerry Seinfeld.

I think this particular appreciation for one’s ability to “label reality” carries over into the authors I end up recommending as well. I just finished Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point” and it certainly appeals to a similar part of me.

It’s the type of book that makes you think “Wow, if this guy hadn’t had the unique insight & passion to write this, I don’t know who else ever would have. And the world is a better place because he did it.”

It talks about the commonalities between the epidemics of this world; an epidemic being any sudden & rapid movement, upward or downward, of a trend.

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Posted on Tuesday, 10th June 2008 in Books, Faith, Life, Marketing | Comments (1)

I’ve been trying to read 30 to 60 minutes of fiction or autobiography every night before falling asleep. I find that it’s a good mind decompressor.

Last night I wrapped up The Alchemist by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho (which, by my best guess, is pronounced “quel-yo”.. like Ronaldinho). I’ve run across Coelho’s name a lot lately & I know he has some rabid fans, so I had to see if all the buzz was warranted.

I’d say it certainly is.

Coelho is a pretty enchanting storyteller who has a rare ability to say a lot about life - to even change lives - without wasting a single page on meaningless narrative. This particular book is an effortless read with a deep message about following your dreams.

Like Santiago, who leaves the simple comfort of a shepherd’s life in Spain to seek buried treasure abroad, we all have something we were meant to do. A passion that is rooted in the deepest fabric of our being.

The question: Are you living the fullest extent of your passion at this moment?

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Posted on Monday, 26th May 2008 in Books, Faith, Life | Comments (0)