Rock Your Fourth Quarter

Rock Your Fourth Quarter

RECBL - Real Estate News

You started 2017 strong, now finish stronger. Whether you’re on track to exceed your goals or you’ve fallen behind, you have two-plus months to finish strong and set the stage for a successful 2018. Luckily, autumn is a great time to get face-to-face with your clients and generate leads.

Don’t take your foot off the gas and coast into the holiday season; use this social time of year to seize opportunities to check in with your clients while you enjoy the spirit of the season.

The fourth quarter is prime-time. Many companies can do almost half of their business in the final three months of the year.

A lot of us do really well under pressure. When you're under pressure or when you have to hit a sales number you are likely to deliver your best performance. I know that's when I start dialing for dollars!

Start following up with everybody on LinkedIn, start sending those email. Do what you have to do so that you can get in front of your client. Don't wait for business to come to you, reach out and you'll be amazed at what can happen at the last minute. Finish strong!

Adopt the mindset of a sprinter.
By the end of the year, many agents begin to feel their motivation wane. If that sounds like you, flip your calendar ahead to December and pick the last day you plan to work before the holidays. Then, count backwards through the calendar to see how many weeks you have left to reach your goals. This allows you to think like a sprinter and act as if each week is a separate sprint. At the end of each week, take a break to help you begin the next week refreshed and focused on your end-goal.

Focus on lead generation.
Keep your pipeline full of leads well into the New Year with consistent lead generation. Continue to do your proactive lead-generating activities right up until your vacation starts and not only will you achieve your goals this year; you’ll sow the seeds for business and closings in the winter and spring, as well.

Enlist help to stay motivated.
Take your motivation to the next level by pairing up with a colleague in the office. Compare notes each week to encourage one another. Share your successes and challenges of the week and provide accountability to help each other reach goals.

Get a lead by lunchtime.
If you need a lead, deliver a small gift of appreciation to help you get face-to-face with your clients and deepen your relationships with them. Luckily, were entering the most social time of the year when people are eager to connect. When you pop by your clients homes or offices with a small, thoughtful gift, you not only thank them for their business and referrals; you also ensure you stay at the forefront of their minds.

Connection Anxiety
If you’re nervous about dropping by your clients, start with the people you like the most. It'll fuel your energy and keep you motivated to visit more of your clients. Make sure they’re home or in the office when you arrive by calling ahead and letting them know approximately when you’ll be there. Keep the visits short; they shouldn’t be any longer than 15 minutes. 

Stay standing while you’re visiting to ensure you don’t stay too long. Don’t get hung up on the gift. The true gift is your time and the visit. The gift itself should be thoughtful and inexpensive, such as seasonal gifts like fresh picked apples from a local farm or a bag of Halloween candy or holiday-themed items such as a festive wreath, holiday ornament or baked goods. If you’re planning to host a holiday party, hand-deliver the invitation to your clients.

Scale Properly
It is so important to see your business through a critical eye. Take your ego out of it. Sometimes we get so focused on what we set out to accomplish, that we forget to take a look at whether it is working or not. If you look at particular project and realize it is not working, start to scale back.

If something isn't working, that's okay. But instead of thinking 'MAYBE it's going to get better, maybe it's going to get better' –course correct sooner and do what your numbers tell you!

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Obtaining Financial Freedom Through Real Estate

Obtaining Financial Freedom Through Real Estate

RECBL - Real Estate News

Linda McKissack and her husband were $600,000 in debt when they made a real estate decision that turned their lives around. Today, their real estate business sells over $60 million and over 300 properties each year. McKissack says their biggest success is not their property sales; it’s how they learned to generate over $250,000 a year in passive income and achieve financial freedom through real estate.

Linda McKissack is an entrepreneur, REALTOR(R), and the author of "HOLD: How to Find, Buy and Rent Houses for Wealth." She’s also a trainer and speaker whose greatest passion is helping others achieve their maximum potential. She’s created five successful businesses and is an owner/investor in numerous residential and commercial properties.

Her message to agents everywhere: "You don’t have to live paycheck to paycheck. Learn how to obtain financial freedom through real estate."

Using lessons from her book, McKissack explains how to start investing and earning money even when you have no money.

"If you don’t design your life, something or someone else will," McKissack said. "Keep this question in front of you: What would happen if today the financial resources of your business totally disappeared? It happened to us; it happened to people in Houston, in Florida, in Puerto Rico with the hurricanes. What are you going to do when it happens to you?"

Drowning in Debt
"I was 23 years old and I didn’t know what the word economy meant," McKissack said. "In the 80s the economy was built around savings and loans, oil and gas and real estate, and it all crashed."

McKissacks husband shut down his Dallas nightclub, and four years later they were $600,000 in debt. He asked for her help digging out of debt, and said his mentor once told him the way to make a lot of money fast was in real estate.

"Im sure he meant invest in real estate, buy real estate," McKissack said, "not put your wife to work selling real estate, but sell is what I did." McKissack took a job in real estate sales, and Jim went to work in her office. They restructured their debt with a simple goal: getting back into the black.

It was a good decision, but it took time to see the wisdom in it. "I made $3,000 that first year, but it cost me $15,000 to $17,000 to make that first $3,000. Fast forward to today and our team closes over 200 transactions a year and $60 million in volume. Today we run as a standalone business."

McKissacks first real estate investment came in 1991. They had no cash, a lot of debt to pay off and weak credit, and the only real estate they owned was the house they lived in, which had a big mortgage.

"We found a property the seller wanted to sell fast, without listing it. They asked if we knew of an investor who would purchase the home. We knew it was a good deal, even though the house needed repairs. We formed a partnership with our builder who put up money and got a loan. We located the property and put our commission into the deal. He did the repairs. We flipped the property for $15,000 profit and we were off to success."

What investing taught McKissack was how to beat the REALTOR(R) dilemma. "The REALTOR(R) dilemma is, the day you sell your last house is the day you make your last dollar. I used to think if I just sold 50 more houses, those 50 houses would solve all my problems. We keep thinking 50 or 100 or 200 houses are going to solve all our cash problems, but its not. Cash flow is not the answer. If you follow the statistics, if we don’t do anything different; most of us will die broke or dependent on the government, family, or friends."

Not wanting to rely on others for their financial security is what started the couple down the road to financial freedom with HOLD.

Creating Financial Freedom With HOLD
"HOLD is a long-term real estate investment strategy to which every real estate investor should aspire," said McKissack. "Be an investor, not a speculator. We bought our first property while we were still $600,000 in debt. We now own over 100 single family properties. There are a lot of people who have money they want to invest, but they don’t have the expertise to do it."

Going 50/50 is a definite option, especially using the HOLD strategy. The HOLD strategy is simple:

1. Find the right property for the right terms and at the right price.
2. Analyze - Make sure you have an offer in which the numbers and terms make sense. Do your due diligence on market values, rents, home prices and appreciations to limit your risks.
3. Buy an investment property where you make money going in. If your numbers are right, you'll make money on the margin and get a positive cash flow from the start. Don't buy a property hoping it will become a good deal. Buy it because it’s a good deal to begin with.
4. Manage a property until its paid for or you have a large amount of equity to leverage. Learn to run your investment properties like a business.
5. Grow your way to wealth and financial freedom. If one investment can bring you $2,000 a month, imagine the income from 10, 20 or 100 properties.

If you’re actually flipping houses (buy and sell), you’re just creating more cash flow. What you need is an investment. Our HOLD formula for wealth-building:

• Buy property at 10 percent or more below market value.
• Put at least a 20 percent or more down payment on the property.
• Be at a 70 percent loan-to-value ratio or less so you’re not over-leveraged.
• Cash flow should be a minimum of $200 per month after PITI and management on a 15-year amortization.
• Buy a newer home (15 years or newer) if possible.
• Buy a 3-4-bedroom brick or stucco (if possible).
• Buy homes in stable or appreciating neighborhoods.

7 Rules of HOLD Real Estate Investing

• Be an investor, not a speculator.
• Cash flow is king.
• It isn’t personal, and the numbers matter most. Don’t get attached to the house or people.
• Learn the magic of leverage.
• Cultivate relationships with other investors and people involved in real estate investing.
• Keep learning from others.
• Give to others and share your information, wealth, and knowledge.

By purchasing 20 single family rental properties that each generated $1,000 cash flow per month, and completing those purchases in five years, with each property financed on a 15-year note with at least 20 percent down payment, the McKissacks were able to keep investing in additional properties.

The HOLD strategy isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme, but a long, slow process which involves learning how to build and sustain a strong team and how to run your real estate career as a business, not a job. These and more tips and information on building passive income are in a recent webinar featuring McKissack. Learn more about the team-building cycle, including how to hire great people who can take you greater financial and business success, by listening to the entire webinar.

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Know Your Worth

Know Your Worth

RECBL - Real Estate News

If you have ever had the opportunity to view a TED Talks video, you probably found yourself overwhelmed with insight or enlightenment. You may have even found yourself inspired with an intense feeling of motivation to combine your inspiration with a plan of action. That’s passion!

​When you reflect on the person or persons in your life who have inspired you, who comes to mind? For me, I reflect on my mother. A young, single widow, left with three children all under the age of 10, working to stay above water because her children’s lives depended on her strength. A woman who at the time didn’t realize her worth and working in a world where gender equality was more or less the punch line of a joke and not a realistic issue.

My mother really didn’t recognize all she had to offer nor did she really understand her own worth. However, I did. I recognized the knowledge, the love, the drive she possessed to make sure her children were fed, clothed and had a place to sleep at night. I recognized she had made a choice early in her life to become a wife and mother. I recognize she focused on rearing and raising her children while her husband, also committed to his family, focused on providing for his wife and children in the only manner his young mind was able to comprehend.

After the loss of her husband, she was now the mother and father, a daunting task which far too many young woman and men have experienced.

Sometimes, when tragedy strikes, we forget what we are worth. We focus on the immediate issue and forget the big picture, not by choice, but out of necessity.I don’t believe one has to sacrifice future for the present or vice versa. I believe in being surrounded by those who constantly remind others of their worth and the value they possess. I believe in recognizing worth. I recognize my mother’s worth and I hope she has the opportunity to view the same talk I have and recognize her worth and what she has to offer. Thank you mom, for being the inspiration and motivation which helped me to realize my own self worth. I hope you enjoy the talk.

Your boss probably isn't paying you what you're worth -- instead, they're paying you what they think you're worth. Take the time to learn how to shape their thinking. Pricing consultant Casey Brown shares helpful stories and learnings that can help you better communicate your value and get paid for your excellence.

This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxColumbusWomen, an independent event.

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Make Up Your Mind To Achieve Your Goals

Make up your mind to achieve your goals

Cash Buyers Lists Make Up Your Mind to Achieve Your Goals
#realestate #cashbuyerslists #makeupyourmind #achieve #goals #success #entrepreneur #entrepreneurship #momentrepreneur #motivation#passionate #motivated #successful #focused #ican #iwill #iwillsucceed#plan #planofaction
http://bit.ly/RECBL-March3
Many of us set goals and resolutions at the beginning of the year, only to fall off track a few months in or when faced with a challenge. Brian Buffini of Buffini and Company provides some valuable insight on, "Making up your mind to achieve your goals!"
Read More> http://bit.ly/RECBL-March3


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