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- Real Estate Investing Is Like a New BusinessYesterday
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by Brett Carman
As an investor, it’s easy to get blinded by the fancy window dressing that a particular agent or seller is putting on when presenting a property. I want to encourage you to evaluate each property on a standalone basis much like you would if you were buying a business...because you ARE. Whether you own one property or one hundred, the recipe for its success is virtually the same. You will need to create a business plan complete with earnings/expense pro-formas while projecting rates of return and contingencies for cost overruns.
There are many different ways to approach this plan and Trump U offers courses and mini-courses on the subject. Fundamentally it all boils down to cash flow. After you have carefully diagrammed the expenses associated with owning the property such as maintenance, utilities, taxes, interest carry, advertising/signage to market, commissions to procuring brokers (if any), vacancy period etc., you will need to figure out the ongoing demand and projected hold time before either leasing out the property or selling it. These days, figuring out the
- John Edwards: Another Politician, Another ScandalAugust 25
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Another politician, another scandal. Former presidential candidate John Edwards admitted he had an affair several years ago - a relationship he vehemently denied when he was campaigning. There are, of course, all sorts of issues here.
Some people question whether a candidate’s personal life really matters. They think what he does in his personal life doesn’t affect his ability to lead. Still others question whether the media pursued this story as diligently as they should have.
But you can also look at it from a business viewpoint. What happens when one of an organization’s most visible members is caught up in a situation that threatens the stability of the institution as a whole? How those circumstances are handled could signal the demise or the continued health of the organization.
In this case, we’re talking the Democratic Party. Even though John Edwards isn’t a presidential candidate, like it or not, the party will suffer by association. His name had been mentioned as a vice-presidential candidate. The American pe
- Ed McMahonAugust 21
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I grew up watching Ed McMahon on the Johnny Carson show and I watched him every night while I was at Wharton. I always thought he was terrific and that he brought a warm and very memorable quality to the Tonight Show.
When I heard what was happening to him and his house, I couldn’t believe it because I didn’t want to believe it. That shouldn’t be happening to him--but it was--so my first instinct was just to help him out.
My primary motivation in this situation is not a real estate deal--it’s a way to help a great American icon and a very nice man.
Since then, someone else got interested in buying the house. The only reason anybody other than me would be interested in this house is because I showed an interest in it first. If somebody else should buy it, I wish them good luck but I hope they take good care of Ed McMahon because he deserves it. I just heard that the person negotiating doesn’t hav
- Negotiate a Win-WinAugust 20
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by Brett Carman
I received a baseball type of cap when participating in a golf tournament about 10 years ago and I still wear it because it reminds me of an important principal: On the front of the cap it says “ Win-Win”. I equate that phrase to mean that you can be a winner at negotiating by seeing to it that the other party is still getting their needs met in the transaction. And, just because you win doesn’t mean someone has to lose.
My most successful negotiations have come from bridging the gap of misinformation and miscommunication between buyer and seller. Once I can get to the truth about what the parties are truly motivated by, I can then structure a deal that makes everyone happy. It’s a universal principle that holds true in business, marriage, friendships etc. If as a businessperson, we would shut our collective mouths for a moment and listen to the other side’s position, we will gain the understanding of what they are thinking and needing to be able to accept our proposal /offer (or whatever). We can then incorporate and address those needs in our offer and thereby eliminate any objections they are having.
The hard part about invoking this strategy is that you have to k
- Gas Prices Finally FallingAugust 18
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So much of the nation is so dependent on gas that there’s certainly been a collective sigh of relief over the past few weeks as the price at the pump has slowly started slipping. The last I read, the national average price for a gallon of gas was around $3.80. Less than a dozen states had prices hovering at more than $4 a gallon.
A year ago, those figures would’ve seemed astronomical, but today, we’re hopeful that this is a sign of good things. Reports are that worldwide demand for petroleum products is finally slowing down so, as you learned in economics class, it’s a lesson in supply and demand. Finally, in this case, the consumers are benefiting.
Of course, although this is good news, it’s just relative. Today’s gas prices are still more than $1 higher than they were this time last year. But take it for what it’s worth. At best, a sign of a slowly recovering economy. If