A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE…

One of the things I realized on this cruise was that all of the speakers I had assembled were considerably younger than I am. I'm 55 and the closet in age to me was 41. Baby-faced Tom Nagle celebrated his 36^th Birthday on the cruise. I can tell you the younger generation has a lot to offer.

The future is bright indeed with these guys around!

I was not the only old salt in the room. Several of the attendees were older than me. This created a very dynamic and electric chemistry everyone benefited from!

Here then is a small portion of what transpired…

TARA GALLAGHER

Tara is my barber. She's the best. She's also my shrink and spiritual advisor. She and her husband Dale have been successfully investing in Real Estate for several years. Tara said she would go on the cruise under one condition… that she be allowed to do an invocation each morning to start off our sessions. I agreed and I'm glad I did.

Tara set the tone for the day with her optimistic and upbeat spirit. She is nothing short of contagious. I attribute much of the success of this event to the foundation she laid for all of us each morning. She has a way of opening everyone's hearts and minds to the abundance surrounding each of us constantly. Did I say she was the best? She is! She's the best.

TOM NAGLE

Tom's presentations were dynamite. In his first presentation he talked about ways of not only automating your marketing but also outsourcing the creation of your marketing collateral. There are several bottlenecks associated with getting things done that Tom has overcome through outsourcing. Most people spend countless hours creating their marketing pieces. Most of these projects never see the light of day because they simple never get finished. Life happens.

Tom has discovered how to get things done quickly by hiring others to complete tasks. These are not amateurs he hires. These are highly skilled professionals that will get the work done in a timely manner… oftentimes for much less than you could hire a local professional.

Creation of logos, caricatures, cartoons, comic books, special reports, articles, postcards, letters, ads… all can be outsourced and completed in a fraction of the time it would take you to complete these tasks. This provides Tom with a tremendous amount of leverage. Think about this… while we were on the cruise, Tom had several subcontractors working on projects for him. The key is in managing these projects efficiently. There is a science to this that Tom has mastered.

Do yourself a huge favor and pick up a copy of a book Tom recommended called “The Obsolete Employee”. It will introduce you to the new way things are getting done in the world around you. Tom is also in the process of creating a membership website that will walk you through the process of outsourcing many of the tasks you are currently doing that someone else could be doing better, faster and cheaper than you. I'll keep you posted when this becomes available. I've already told him to sign me up. I can't afford not to.

Here's an interesting side note that came out in one of our late night sessions. Tom makes everyone he hires take a personality test. This insures him that he is hiring the right person for the task at hand. This can be done online for about $15 per test.

Steven Brown also reinforced the value of personality testing. He tests all of his employees (including himself) and has identified the only personality type suited for his “Buyers”… those people he hires to actually go out on appointments and buy property for him. This is very powerful.

Tom also introduced his “Savvy Seller Program” to the group. This is leverage at its finest… and represents another way of turning a huge profit on property owned by others. Not only does Tom earn a lot of money with this program, the Seller actually nets more money from the sale. Cash Buyers cannot compete with Tom under this program. With this innovative program Tom has reduced not only his risk, but his capital requirements… this in a very narrowly defined niche market.

Tom also utilizes banners and signs in helping sell his properties fast. He stages all of his properties with attractive furniture rented from CORTS… and offers this furniture for sale with the property, as well as, offers Buyer Incentives such as flat screen TV's. Open houses, wine and cheese parties and more are employed to attract Buyers, Sellers, Referrals, Private Lenders and Contractors. Wow!

STEVEN BROWN

Steve Brown is a HomeVestor's franchisee in Mobile, Alabama. Steve shared the metrics of name branding from the HomeVestor's perspective. This is high dollar marketing that includes billboards, radio and TV ads, blanked direct mail, car wraps, etc. Steve spends a tremendous amount of money each month on his marketing campaigns.

The question is… Is this cost effective? You should be asking yourself this same question about your marketing dollars. Steve knows the metrics. He knows how much each call costs, each lead, each appointment and each purchase. Not knowing these numbers is financial suicide.

One of the extremely interesting things Steve talked about was qualifying the leads. The long and short of it is Steve does not qualify his leads. When a call comes in… he sets the appointment. Then he sends one of his Buyers out on the appointment with a very well crafted package of information including neighborhood comps. His Buyers are well trained and make an offer on all properties according to a set formula. Very powerful!

By sending his Buyers on every appointment, Steve not only leverages himself, he also uncovers a tremendous amount of opportunity most of us will never see because we qualify too tightly. His Buyers are also highly visible in the marketplace because he furnishes them with Scions wrapped with his HomeVestor's advertising message. He has developed a marketing system that works like gangbusters.

Steve markets properties effectively to Out-of-State Investors and formed a Management Company to facilitate these sales and as an additional profit center. Steve works “on” his business constantly… creating systems and processes designed to make his business efficient and replicatable.

Virtually all of his employees/subcontractors are commission based. This reduces his overhead by paying his staff out of production instead of out of his lifestyle. In Steve's words “you eat what you kill!”

Don't think Steve is resting on his laurels. He called me this week and said he received 12 new Short Sale leads in the first week from just one idea he picked up from another speaker during the cruise. One idea plus rapid implementation equals opportunity. Steve understands the formula well.

MATT SCOTT

Matt is a wealth of hard hitting marketing knowledge. I dare say no one knows more about attracting Private Money Partners than Matt. Here's just one profitable example…

Someone asked the question about interest rates. What is the best way to negotiate interest rates downward? After all, most Real Estate Investors equate private money with hard money and the usurious rates charged in conjunction with those loans.

Not only did Matt give several examples of various companies raising millions of dollars at 8-9% unsecured… you read it right… unsecured… but he also said the way to raise money at lower rates is to use emotion. There are a lot of applications to using emotions in your marketing. This is only one of them. Here's how it works…

Take any College town. Every college with a football team has rabid fans. They also have alumni associations. There are a lot of alumni that are very emotional about their alma mater. Now, if you wanted to build student housing in this college town and raise private money to do it… do you think you could? Of course you could.

You could raise money for the Ole Miss Student Housing Project at very low interest rates because everyone you talked to about this would be Ole Miss Alumni… and they would be emotional about the cause you were undertaking. These private money partners would not be investing strictly for yield… they would be investing to make a difference… to help provide better housing for Ole Miss Students.

With the right emotionally charged venture… you can raise money at lower rates because the private money partners are sold on what you are trying to accomplish… your vision… your mission!

Think about how non-profits raise money for a minute. Not only do they not pay interest on monies raised… they don't pay back the principle. The only thing they have to sell is the emotional impact of their mission… what they are all about. Whether it's helping the poor or saving souls. It's emotionally charged and we all participate at some level. The same exact principles can be used to raise private money. All you need is an emotionally charged hot button or trigger… and incorporate it in your mission statement and marketing message.

One interesting side note about Matt is he used to be a Private Investigator and he shared some great stories over dinner and during the late night sessions. One of the things he shared had to do with skip tracing. He said most all skip tracing is done over the phone using some type of ruse or story to find the mark.

If you can cause the mark to call an 800 number, you can capture their phone number even if it's unlisted. Most people are not aware that you give up your right to privacy when you call an 800 number. There is also another trick Matt shared from the dark side I found interesting.

You can use what is called a tele-spoofing service. With this type of service you can pick the number that shows up on the recipient's Caller I.D. when you make a call from any phone. Imagine looking at your Caller I.D. and see the call is from someone you know or someone you think could benefit you in some way. Chances are you will answer it. Anyway…just an interesting side note. Check out www.TeleSpoofing.com for more info!

By the way, Matt Scott conducts his Private Money Boot Camp two times a year. I highly recommend Matt's seminar to anyone interested in learning how to raise private money. Not only is he on the cutting edge of how this is done… but he will keep you out of hot water in the process. And the networking opportunities are invaluable. For more information visit www.FundingBluePrints.com . Subscribers to this newsletter can save an additional $200/$100 by using the discount code “pr287” when signing up online or by calling Angel @ 866-420-8282 and ask for the Scott Britton deal.

DAN STOJADINOVIC

Dan started off his presentation talking about his personal history. You talk about motivational. Dan had actually been training to swim the river to escape Serbia when they opened the borders long enough for him to walk out. In 1992 he escaped Serbia with only $400 in his pocket. The rest of Dan's story is nothing short of amazing. Needless to say, he has worked his way to the top. Nobody gave Dan anything. He accessed the opportunities the United States has to offer anyone willing to work hard and make things happen.

Dan shared his years of tips and tricks for using online technology to our benefit. Website and online marketing has become a viable medium in only the last year or so. But it has definitely busted out of the box.

Here's what's interesting. All of the same marketing techniques and strategies used in the offline world work equally as well in the online world. Dan shared over 50 tips and strategies for online marketing. Did you know the optimal number of pages for a website is 7? Most people try and be all things to all people with just one website. Dan's idea of having multiple websites for each niche you work in is brilliant. You should have a different site for buying… and a different site for selling… just to name two examples. There are numerous valid reasons for this. The main one is to avoid confusion.

OK… Dan creates websites for Real Estate Investors. Hopefully, that's no secret. His Prospectizer product (a word he made up… much like many words on the Internet today) has many user friendly features. First of all, these sites can be easily modified and updated by the Owner. If you know how to operate a word processor, you can update your own sites. Dan has made it that easy.

Secondly, you can add and customize your own information gathering forms that feed into a back office system. Not only is all of this web based… all of your websites can feed into the same back office where you can schedule follow-up and/or assign follow-up to someone else. This not only allows you to work more efficiently (after all follow-up is the key to making things happen)… but it also allows you to work in many more markets. For example, I could have a website on Go Zone Properties attracting buyers from all over the country… and have a bird dog that works for builders on the Mississippi Gulf Coast follow up on these leads. Powerful!

Dan sells these websites for a living. But while on the ship, I made a deal with Dan to let my subscribers try out one of his websites for FREE (limited time offer… he could change his mind on this anytime… that was our deal). To take advantage of this generous offer, call me at 800-528-0907 ext “0”. One thing I will say about Dan's method of attracting business… he goes the extra mile providing you with a wealth of marketing resources. In fact, I don't know anyone that gives more.

JUSTIN ANDERSON

Sometimes you get more than you bargained for. This was true of all of the speakers assembled for the Super Secret Marketing Cruise. Justin Anderson was no exception.

In fact, everyone got a two for one deal from Justin. He brought his partner and friend Don Morant along with him. I haven't seen Don in years, but he is a very special individual. Don added his own insights and personal philosophies about investing that touched everyone on a very personal level.

Justin's presentation was on Market Cycles. Every market experiences them. Learning the order in which these cycles flow can make you rich. This can be very detailed… but is a scientific way of researching and positioning yourself for massive profits. Needless to say, I took copious notes of Justin's presentation. Everyone did.

There are a lot of different factors associated with each of these market cycles. Here is a brief overview:

Seller's Market – Stage 1: This is also referred to as the expansion or growth phase. Characterized by dwindling supply of homes with the lowest days on market. Prices and rents rise. Unemployment is low. Speculation and development are in full swing. Demand for Real Estate is at its highest point. Obviously a great time to be a Seller!

Seller's Market – Stage 2: Also referred to as the equilibrium phase. Supply increases as do days on market. Sellers wait longer to sell but still receive high prices. Business and job growth slows. Potential for overbuilding. Construction materials rise in cost. (Any of this sound familiar?) A risky time to buy as the market stabilizes. Still a good time to sell but time is running out.

Buyer's Market – Stage 1: Also referred to as the decline phase. Characterized by excess supply of property. Days on market increases sharply. Prices, rents and demand are falling. Unemployment reaches its highest point. The Construction Industry struggles. New construction is overpriced and stagnant. Foreclosures increase. Lowest level for Investment property values. Difficult to sell in this phase while bargains begin to appear for the savvy investor. Caution and patience is advised.

Buyer's Market – Stage 2: Also called the absorption phase and “Millionaire Maker” phase. The Market begins to absorb the oversupply. Days on market decreases. Rents at lowest level but beginning to increase. Job growth shows improvement. Existing properties are being rehabbed. Investment properties are at the lowest level but beginning to increase in value. Competition for bank foreclosures is fierce as supply declines. A great time to buy as momentum increases. The contrarian buyer gets in early in this phase.

These cycles follow each other in this order. Average cycle time is 7-15 years. Average stage time is 3-5 years. Obviously, none of this is written in stone but these are good guidelines.

How valuable do you think this information can be to you as a Real Estate Investor? I think it's tremendously valuable. Not only can this information make you rich… it can also keep you from going broke. Having this information gives you an unfair advantage, doesn't it? While others sit around moaning and groaning… wondering what is happening… you can know. Not only that, you will know with certainty the most profitable entry and exits points in the market cycle.

There is a lot more to this than I have space to cover here. Your strategies and marketing efforts vary greatly from phase to phase. What's key is… there is always opportunity.

Justin passed out big round red stickers with “Don't Panic” written on them. Everybody was wearing them. I saved mine and stuck it on my laptop. What a great reminder for all of us!

By the way, Justin has a great home study course called “The Rehabbers Guide to the Galaxy”. There is a ton of valuable information in this course including information on writing a business plan (which most Investors don't have but should).

For more information, call Justin @ 706-738-7014 or take a look at his website (there's that word again) at www.artofrealestateinvesting.com . Mention my name and he might do something special for you. Just a hint!

Sadly, I'm out of space for this month. Was hoping to tell you about some of the things I discussed on the cruise. I will be posting details along with articles from each of these speakers on my membership site at www.RealEstateSuccess.com . Email me if you need access! SB