June 1994 Last month we started discussing negotiation techniques from the standpoint of getting information upon which a negotiation strategy could be based. We covered ways to get answers to Who, Why, What, Where and When questions. This month we'll try to cover 'HOW' to use this information to structure deals.
Continue reading “It’s Not What You Do, It’s The Way You Do It!”
May 1994 In general, there is no incorrect answer. It all depends upon the viewpoint of the people involved. Who's buying? Who's selling? Why? What are their objectives? How much cash must actually be required to make the transaction work for all parties? What are their income levels and tax brackets? What are their ages? How sophisticated are they? What has their previous financial experience been? What are their security needs? How motivated are they? Why?
April 1994 In less than 6 years we'll be living in the 21st century. I've been reading an interesting book called 'The Great Reckoning' written by James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg. In it they make a strong case for a 500 year cycle in which mega-political events have taken place which literally have changed the world.
Continue reading “Are You Prepared For The Information Superhighway?”
March 1994 Every year I like to visit factories, parks and dealerships to update myself on the state of the art in manufactured housing. I advise you to do it to. You're going to be surprised at what you find, because many changes are taking place that could affect your future.
Continue reading “Factory-built Housing: Something For Everyone . . .”
February 1994 The answer: THE RENT! The rent always comes first! That's a maxim that every successful landlord and investor must take to heart in order to continue to invest in and to expand an inventory of income producing real estate. We're just starting a new year and we've raised our rents to try to match the 2.6% inflation that the government admits to. We've also culled some weak renters by not offering new rental agreements for the coming year and are busy upgrading our tenant profile with those who have better jobs and more stable employment prospects. In this issue, we're going to take a look at the things people do wrong as property managers and what can be done to remedy them. And along the way we'll discuss ways in which more gross rent dollars can be collected and converted into net spendable income by reducing expenses and increasing overall gross income.
Continue reading “Which Came First, The Chicken Or The Egg?”
November 1993 It's odd how people approach their work and/or their business activities in a rational manner, yet fail to the take the same approach with the assets they accumulate from their earnings and investments. Nobody succeeds for long in business without knowing what the opposition is doing, gauging the markets, tailoring product and services to meet the needs of both present and future customers, avoiding unnecessary expense and loss. Yet, for some reason, that same prudent person who can amass a fortune through business, can't seem to protect it personally. Maybe we can shed some light on this.
Continue reading “What You Keep Counts More Than What You Make . . .”
October 1993 Is there some magic ingredient, some mystical force that creates good fortune for some and not for others? I believe there is. That's the bad news. The good news is that it can be captured and used by anyone who wants it. What is it? Where is it? Like riding a bicycle or swimming, it's really not all that mysterious once you understand it. Can you remember your first attempt at bike riding? How could anyone expect to balance on those two tiny treads? Yet, once done, it never posed a problem for you again. The same holds for swimming. Until you'd done it once, you sank like a stone. Once you learned how to do it, you have to work to stay under water. In both instances, nothing new was added to the ingredients other than personal confidence in your own abilities.
Continue reading “Why Do Some People Always Seem To Win While Others Fail?”
September 1993 People go broke because of a common error. They think in terms of GROSS profit instead of NET profit. They consume their capital without realizing it. Let me tell you about Granny's Attic. Granny's Attic was the name of a little shop that specialized in antiques and art objects reminiscent of the late 1800s. From the start it did a booming business, even being written up in the local Sunday supplement. The owners were four young college students who signed a 5 year lease with me to rent their retail space. Despite record sales, they were broke within a year and had to borrow money from their parents to buy their way out of the lease. Why? Because they thought each dollar of sales was a dollar of profit, so they divided up the receipts and spent them on the good life.
July 1993 The most obvious answer is government. After all, at some level it controls the uses to which property can be put, who can use it, the costs of holding it, the amount of rent that can be collected, the rights of all users of property, how much net profit the owner can keep after taxes, credit required to finance purchases and sales, and finally government can always take the property through condemnation and seizure. So. that's not a wrong answer at all. But, in the private domain, management and managers hold the key. Let's look at the proposition from the standpoint of the owner-manager as well as the professional manager.
June 1993 I've been involved with real estate for over four decades now and I still haven't found that mythical 'management free' property. Like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it always seems to be just beyond my reach. For that matter, I haven't found any kind of performing assets that are truly management free. Most of us yearn for a financially secure life far removed from the hurley burley of business concerns. We can have that only if we're content to sacrifice yield, income and efficiency.
Continue reading “‘Management-Free’: The Fairy Tale Begins . . .”
