Christmase Eve and last minute shopping. I have no idea how every year I always end up in the same situation. Running into mall after mall with a horde of frantic shoppers trying to find the perfect gift for Nora.

Probably it would help if she kinda hinted what she wanted? Five years and still no clue!

This year I have my right hand Theresa Payne without whom I would lost in the wilderness and I have 1/3 of her gift but not the final thing.

Oh well, Hailey is pretty excited, this being her first Christmas where she can actually figure out what is happening around here. My sis-in-law Nada is coming over and we are going to attempt to make a very traditional Christmas dinner tonight.

Since I am married into a different culture (Watch the DVD of My Big Fat Greek Wedding if you want to know how my wedding was like!)Christmas in our household or atleast the dinner is from a different planet.

Hence the attempt to make the traditional turkey tonight.

But enjoy the day and tomorrow with your families. Afterall what is the biggest reward we can get in our lives but good days like these with the people we care about.

And if you live the Midwest where there is really cold outside, try to find some time in the next days and donate old clothes or if you can afford to buy somes gloves and sweaters and donate them to a homeless shelter.

Love ya all!

Mark Ijlal

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I think that it has more to do with the enormous amount of new construction being built on every single possible piece of land that the developers can get thier hands on.

This is not also the first time that a housing cycle is running its course from boom to maturity. It is also more regional in its really bad parts. Midwest dropping steeply probably becuase of how fast the manufaturing jobs are vanishing from here.

CNN Money has the full report - but if you are in the business of buying and selling foreclosures, like yours truly, think about it - is it really that bad news? To me it looks like that customers are thinking twice about buying homes they possibly cannot afford if something drastic were to happen in their financial lives. May be, sanity is prevailing and they are looking for better value for their dollar.

Which, we real estate investors, are happy to provide.

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lease Options or is it Lease-Options?

Which one is it? Do we need the hyphen or not?

Apart from the apparent confusion about how to write the above, lease options are a pretty powerful strategy to cash out houses at full market value or usually if done right, 5% to 7% or even 10% more than the market value.

It is always surprising to me that real estate investors don't use them as much as they should. Or they are scared or embarrassed to ask for decent to high option payments upfront. I have suggested running ads with a high option payment just to test the waters and see what kind of response comes back, only to be met with a horrified investor looking back at me as if I have lost my mind - “But Mark, nobody will ever buy my house if I ask for $10,000 Option upfront?”.

That is just bull!

Because, at first it is an assumption made by somebody and that has more to do with them and how they look at money.

Secondly, the only way you can truly find out the “sweet spot” on an Option Payment is to ask for a seemingly ridiculous amount and see what happens and what kinds of calls come in.

So I have decided to write the next few posts dissecting some of the lease options deals that I have done this year. One of them is about to close by Tuesday - pretty decent payday. And also why lease options can work well with forming profitable partnerships with other real estate investors.

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 01:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Foreclosures, selling, Lease Options - It all begins here first

If y’all think that negotiating with banks for thousands of dollars on a juicy foreclosure deal is tough - try burping a 2 month old baby without her throwing up all over you!

Back after a three day absence as Nora finished the Christmas shopping and I was at home for the weekend watching the kiddies who made sure that dad cannot get to his iBook!

So the new year is beginning. Some of us did pretty well in 2004, starting new friendships, contacts and resources that will help us grow our real estate investment business in years to come. Some of us watched from sidelines wondering what the heck do we know that they did’nt? Gold Plus member Mike Lewandaski used the illustration of a mushroom cloud to describe how my own real estate business has grown in front of his eyes in 12 short months!

So the challenge is little more tougher in 2005! How to top a wonderfully profitable year??? And still have a life?

Answer after the commercial break!

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 11:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I never realize how much junk could be accumulated in such a short time. The move to our new offices is almost complete. It is an interesting paradox for our real estate investment business. We are doing more deals then ever. Business is booming! And yet we need smaller office space.

How? Because we leverage other people’s knowledge and let them work out of their own homes. Instead of asking our employees (part time mostly) to drive all the way to our office, get stuck in traffic jams every day - we ask them if they can just work out of their homes. All they need is a connection to the internet anyway. The bank foreclosure business has been changed so dramatically because of the internet in the last four years that for me it is hard to remember how we used to do without the Internet?

Personally, I love the idea of small offices - we have a great team together and instead of sitting apart in a big office, we are sharing a open space bull pen - and it is going to be lots of fun in the coming months, just bouncing deals and ideas. My employees are more like my partners anyway.

I originally got the idea of creating a real estate investment business that runs from other peoples homes from the open source software movement, where scores of volunteers work on a software project together and contact each other via email / fax.

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 10:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We are moving our offices today and by God what a pain that is. Janine, Theresa and myself - were all a little sad today - we saw our real estate business simply explode in this room. Started teaching, launched my coaching group of Gold Plus and Gold, saw the launch of my Real Estate Apprentice group, negotiated our first million dollar deal.

But what is more important then this temporary feeling, is the fact that how many relationships we built out of these rooms. People like yourself who is reading these lines who came and did deals with us, bought foreclosures from us, sold foreclosures to us, invested money with us - most of them simply amazing company and I know most of them will be around for a long, long time with us. Couple of bad apples here and there but their number is insignificantly small.

And here is the big lesson for me out of all this - the walls of my office, the furniture there and the office equipment is unimportant, because we are leaving most of it behind as we move into our new offices.

What is more important is the relationships that we built over the last 36 months in these rooms that we carry with us. That is where the growth of my real estate business is , that is where all the profits are.

Two nights ago, I did a hot seat with Mike Lewandaski, one of my Gold Plus member and we were discussing his awesome goals for 2005 and I pointed out to him that he needs to add a section to his list for Acquiring New People For his Rolodex.

For people new to the game this sounds like too much - hey I have enough on my plate as it is - driving around, looking at foreclosures, trying to write estimates, negotiating with homeowners, having a job, and living a life - and now Mark wants me to go out and hug trees.

Gimme a break!

If I had to do all this all over again, I would not drive and look at 100 houses in my first year the way I did. Stupid thing on my part.

I would go out and build a “Black Book” first. A good “Black Book” can help you retire in 3 years, financially free in 2 and seriously rich in 1.

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 12:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey, I have been saying it for 2 years now - if you are not playing the game here - in Detrooooit, Michigan - as the announcer for Pistons would like to shout - you are missing out. Yeah, yeah - I know the crime rate is high in certain areas of the city but it is a BIG city buddy!

Now Money Magazine has validated the emergence of Detroit. Read it here
in this article on the Motor City and the real estate boom.

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 12:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here is a nifty little website; inman.com is a portal for realtors and everybody else connected to real estate. Although not necessarily directed solely toward the real estate investor - this site does provides interesting information on what is happening on the selling side of homes.

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is a gem of a web site, explaning the nuts and bolts and legal definations of the various real estate situations. Best of all its free. So if you ever wondered about the difference between "COOPERATIVES AND CONDOMINIUMS?", here is your answer;

Free Leagal Advice On Real Estate

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Road trip for the East and West Apprentice groups. Just in case if you wondered about my band of merry mischief makers - here they are! I am so proud of them and rooting for all them to close their first profitable deal!

We also worked on an intersting project - how to sell this house, in 60 days, at close to or at market value - they came up with 19 ideas to create an avalanche of buyers - four ideas were just brilliant. I countered back with one that everybody loved also.

You can read about it all in my December's Issue of Straight From The Trenches Real Estate newsletter.

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 08:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I will not do open houses.

This is the easiest one. If you think sitting in an empty house on a Sunday and waiting for someone to walk in is a great way to spend your weekends, away from your family then Hey! what do i know?

If open houses are such a brilliant idea then why most realtors are dead broke?

How would like to know how I sell houses without ever going to show the house to anybody personally? Hint: it has something to do with the Internet.

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 12:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just because somebody sends me an e-mail does'nt not means that I have to drop everything I am doing and start replying.

This is the easiest one to answer. I recommend reading the only book on Time Management that I have found that had real new dollars in my bank account, Dan Kennedy, No B.S. Time Management For Entrepreners.

I read this book every 2 months, over and over again and every time I do I find another block of time in my day that I could be doing something productive.

Dont get me wrong - I do answer emails, I just do them at my own convenience and not on the convenience of the person sending it to me. Just becuase they did not have anything to do at that particular momemnt of time does not means that I share their liesure.

I love fax machines and I encourage everybody that I do business with to use the fax machine. My phones are rarely answered live and if they are, it is by an answering service.

I know several real estate investors who live in the perpetual fear of losing a profitable deal and hence they are sugically glued to their emails and cell phones. I used to be one of them till I figure out that if the person on the other end has relationship with me then they will wait for me.

Business is booming, my rules of engagement get tougher every quarter and so far no drop in volume or profit in sight.

My advice to time challenged folks, buy the No B.S Time Mangement Book today. It is like $9.95 at Amazon.com. You will thank me in six months for making more money with less work.

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 12:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What Mark Ijlal Should Not be Doing Everyday Explained In 8 Easy Steps:

Whoa, I got a barrage of emails, all asking for more explanation on my Not To Do List. So here it goes:

Not To Do Item #2: I will not wast my time doing Quick Books or accounting.

My CPA for a very fair charge comes to my office twice a month, goes through my Quick Books, enters all the checks that I wrote, make sure that they are correctly categorized, reconciles my bank accounts and so forth. Most CPA’s provide this kind of rudimentary book keeping services to their clients for around $100-$250 per month depending upon the complexity and number of transactions.

Fact of the matter is most small business owners that includes real estate investors by the way are lousy at accounting. But if you ever want to grow your business to critical mass you need to know your numbers.

When I have 5-6 houses going on - I can tell you to the pennies how much I have in each house in seconds by glancing at my Quick Books screen.

But I dont like doing accounts - not the most useful and profitable way to spend my day. So why not outsource it? And spend my time putting together profitable deals?

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 10:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My Real Estate Apprentice member Jeff Herbel posed a very interesting question today - at what time you know that you should hire an assistant? Or more importantly at what point you know that you are no longer a real estate investor but have become a Deal Maker!

I was not in the room at the time, so Nora ended up volunteering me into doing a whole Apprentice Session on it - i.e., running your real estate business not like a hobby, but really putting systems in place that will make it happen as quickly as possible. How to do it and more importantly how to make it happen rapidly.
Ah Thanks Nora! I can always use a 4 hour session. :-)

The thing that annoys me the most and some of my Gold Plus members needlessly obsessed about it too all the time - you know what I am talking about - the age old question of “where are the deals!” . Practice saying it with enormous frustration in your voice and you got the dilemma of a new real estate investor.

Who care? Deals are easy to find. In Southeast Michigan, just in three counties 1400 - 17000 foreclosures happening every single month. What is so hard about finding a deal? There are bigger challenges at hand, which require far more greater thought and preparation than just finding a deal.

Here is a question for you, and see if you can honestly come up with an answer for this real life business proposal. I have this house that I bought for $150,000, repairs needed $40,000, after repair value $280,000! It will be done in four weeks. Spiffy as New!

You and me are partners in this house! We are goning to move this baby and pocket couple of thousands smakaroos! Tell me some of the ways you can help me sell the house!

Oh, I don't want to drop the price either. I want to sell the house at $280,000.

See, and you thought finding a deal was the tricky part!

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 09:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A New Kind of Goal Setting For Real Estate Investors

I missed out on something really important. Good thing that nobody noticed. For somebody who talks about all the time about the importance of building relationships in thier real estate business as one of the four major thing any investor need to worry about, I completely missed out on including something that I have started doing this year.

I have never shared this before - never before in a seminar, workshop, coaching call or newsletter - frankly speaking I dont believe that anybody is going to go out and put in the effort to do so. The only exception is my Real Estate Apprentice group who gets this beaten in their heads every time they are in front of me.

So here is what is often asked of me : what the heck is am I doing that is making the cash register ring while countless other real estate investors are stumbling around wondering if this thing is a wild goose chase?

I will tell you the secret and here is the big guarantee - if you choose to do nothing, I mean absolutely doggone nothing for the next 90 days but do the following, your real estate business with explode with the power of backpack full of raw dynamite!

Here is the secret - you need to have goals, specific goals with deadlines with regard to the people you want to network with in your real estate business.

I am not joking - make goals with who you need to meet - weekly, monthly, quaterly - basis ; top realtors, other real estate investors, appraisers, title company people, bird doggers - and watch the magic happen.

Here is a simple strategy for taking an accidental transaction and turning into a long term profitable relationship:
1. Found a house, very yummy deal with lots of money in it.
2. Realtor is a jerk, wont return phone calls and never is in the office.
3. His assistant is a sweetheart. She runs the show.
4. About to close the deal this week. Taking the assistant out to lunch. No diabolical intentions, just wanted to say thanks for all y’all good efforts.
5. She goes on my mailing list. Gets cards, goodies on an occassional basis.
6. Call her once a week just to say hello.
7. Guess who she is going to remember when the next good deal comes around? Her boss being a jerk, he is never around! She manages his whole business.

That is a huge part of my networking strategy every month - get to know ONE player - whoever does not matters - and make sure my number gets on their speed dial - the closer to 1 - the better it is.

People cannot write a check to you when they dont know your name. Make yourself known and money will come. Dont drive to empty houses, go and sit in a successful real estate investor office for one day and answer phones. It is much more entertaining. The whole notion of a lone real estate investor riding into a deserted town full of foreclosures and riding out on the horses back into the sunset with all the profitable deals is a delusion, a dangerous one that is.

My success is owed to a great deal to the people around me. Simple as that. I just make sure that I am around the right kind of people.

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 12:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I think when we all started in buying and selling houses at a rapid pace – selling if you may – we always thought that was the end of it all. You know that is all we are going to do for the rest of your lives. Find a deal, make it happen, sell it and collect a big check. May be move into bigger houses later in the stage but keep it doing it, over and over again.

That is not to be – if you figure it out on how to be blatantly successful in doing the above – which is not really that hard and requires putting some good systems in place – then you will quickly discover that what we all started doing is really Phase I in our business and not the end journey.

Two things will happen as you become good at it and money starts to flow in – First, more opportunities will come your way, all kind of opportunities; in any given month Nora and myself and approached to open a fast food restaurant , a wine bar, buy a franchise, finance a clothing line; you name it and I can probably think of someone who has approached me for doing one.

Second, and this is more powerful than the first one – you begin to realize the power and potential of real estate and how buying and selling single family houses is only, believe it or not, the tip of the iceberg. Really just the key to unlock the door.

To anybody who is starting and about to do their first deal in the next 90 days – I say, Welcome! You have no idea what is in store with you in the next 24-36 months. I am certainly amazed looking at the magnitude and deals that I am working on – big, ambitious, fun projects – still doing single family houses but now they have become the kindling and the fuel to lit up the fire in my business.

That is why it is so important to write your goals for 2005 for your real estate business. I am severely tempted to post my own goals here and I might before the year is over. But here is another side benefit of writing and tell other people of your goals.

One it creates accountability, second you never know who else in your group might jump up and help you hit that target. We had this discussion in a Apprentice group session last Friday where I suggested that at minimum they should very vocal in expressing their goals on their website.

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It may read as a little bit extreme but I have to follow my list viciously otherwise I will be moaning and complaining like most of my good friends in the business who just wonder on how the heck I find time to do all this stuff and still have a life.

The key to having a great Not To Do List in simply refusing to make any compromises. Don't make a list and start making excuses right away on why it wont work.

The simple truth is that doing anything - even a 3 on a scale of 10 - in our business will bring new money to the bank. Doing nothing because you could not find time to do it brings exactly nothing to the bank account.

I have wasted enough years trying to be perfect - big mistake - rather be good enough and then tweak it later and slowly with checks coming in from day 1.

Mark Ijlal’s Not To Do List:

1. I will not waste my time standing on the Xerox machine or sending mail out.
2. I will not wast my time doing Quick Books or accounting.
3. I will not call and be put on hold with banks.
4. I will not leave voice mail messages that will end up in me playing phone tag with somebody.
5. I will not take calls in my real estate business without prescreening them.
6. Just because somebody sends me an e-mail does'nt not means that I have to drop everything I am doing and start replying.
7. I will not drive around every day and look at properties unless I know for a fact that is good solid deal.
8. I will not do open houses.

I know what is coming next - e-mails to me complaining that I can afford to do so because my real estate business is doing so well - and that is partially true. But here lies the catch 22 of it all - unless you can figure this out and have a Not To Do List for yourself when you are just starting your real estate business - you will never hit big time success.

So next time, I will share with you that how can you implement a similar list in your real estate business even when you are starting out.

And more importantly what you should be spending your time on every day instead of doing all the above busy but no money making activities.

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 11:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the same Money magazine article sidebar of Landlording 101, there is interesting advice about of hiring an experienced accountant that understands tax breaks for real estate investors. Truth of the matter is they can be numerous and generous but also devilishly complicated.

My advice is that understand that not all certified public accountants are created equal. As a full-time or as an active real estate investor you need somebody who understands the numerous deductions that us real estate investors can legally take.

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 11:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hard to believe that finally an article in a major publication that makes sense, Money magazine for December 2004 actually has an article, and believe it or not about Getting Real about real estate investing it and what makes it interesting is that it talks about the Landlording 101.

The first thing that talked about is you want to set up a single person limited liability Corp. or LLC. I have been harping on this for ever, that if you want to be in real estate and you don't haven't LLC set up you are putting yourself in unbelievable danger. Not just what you have today, but also what you will have in years to come.

The cost of an LLC is pennies, the risk you put yourself and your loved ones in your family runs in hundred thousand dollars. Last time I checked homeless people don't get sued in America, only people with something to lose do.

This article also talks about the power of real estate investor's getting a real estate license and the readers of this site know that I have said it before an I will say it again. I just don't see any downside or any disadvantages in getting a Realtor license.

Not only you get access to MLS, which helps you scout for new properties but you also get a better chance to get a feel of the market rents (Realtors when handling leases typically list leases on MLS also – when searching on MLS, the first few listings when you set the Minimum Price option to zero are usually leases - and neighborhoods are you looking.

What I disagree in this article when the author talks about not paying anybody 6% percent broker permission when you decide the sell your rental. Because you do use somebody else broker license to do a selling part of an and you will end up paying something at least 3 percent of your buyer agent involved. But in the long run I think having a courage and putting in the effort to get the Realtor license as a one-win situation.

It also talked about getting the bids from several general contractors and hiring a good property inspector before buying good. I would add asking for at least 3 references from these contractors before you start throwing money in the house. My experience the bad ones will just vanish away as soon as you ask for references.

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 11:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)