Herb Cohen, author of Negotiate This, and this advisor to presidents Carter and Reagan shares his best lines:

“How did you come up with that number?” opens a window in the other’s side’s thoughts. (That is just perfect to say to homeowners selling their houses even investors who are trying to wholesale or assign the contract to you.)

“Where were we?” Look like you care but not that much.

“Let me check with my wife.” Or my husband, my boss, my banker. Stops you from saying YES prematurely. (Full Disclosure: I use this line all day; so does Nora on everything under the sun we buy even on REO Realtors or Loss Mitigation officers)

“Huh? Wha?” Pretend you don’t understand and others will talk. (One of my buddies uses it all day long on everybody he is negotiating with. He got me couple of times too till I read the above. I can’t wait to kick his ass next time by going silent next time he tries this to me.) :-)

“If things change, give me a call.” By willing to walk away – and the put the burden on them. ( I love this one and if a Real estate agent is trying to get you by saying that they have "mulitple offers" on the property that you just looked, dont be afraid and use this one if you dont want to pay what they are asking.

Source: Fortune Magazine, October 20, 2006.

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 04:25 PM | Permalink

This is what 99.5% of all Americans make in a year:

90% report income of less than $100,000
9.7 million make between $100,000 and $200,000
2.3 million make between $200,000 and $500,000
582,213 tax returns show income between $500,000 and $2,000,000
65,548 tax returns show income between $2,000,000 and $5,000,000
15,835 tax returns show income between $5million and $10million
9,677 tax returns show income of more than $10million.

And

70% report income of less than $50,000
50% reprot income of less than $30,000

Source: TIME Magazine, October 30, 2006

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 08:11 PM | Permalink

How much time at work does it takes to earn $1,000?

Howard Stern – 24 seconds
Dr. Phil – 2 minutes 42 seconds
Brad Pitt – 4 minutes 48 seconds
Kobe Bryant – 5 minutes 30 seconds
Maria Sharapavo – 6 minutes
Wolfgang Puck – 7 minutes 30 seconds
Chief Executive – 2 hours 55 seconds
Doctor G.P. – 13 hours 5 minutes
Police Officer – 43 hours
High School teacher – 43 hours
Farmer – 57 hours
Janitor – 103 hours

Source: TIME Magazine, October 30, 2006

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 08:08 PM | Permalink

Michigan is Amazing is a great website. Tom Brzezina of Troy has put together what he calls a "valentine to Michigan".

You can even submit your personal amazing Michigan story and win a free tshirt. .

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 03:19 PM | Permalink

I recently picked up this magazine Personal Real Estate Investor from Borders. A “real” looking magazine. The tagline was “Building Wealth Through Property Investment” which is probably the tagline used by every single real estate guru at least once in their lives.

I thought Cool! A magazine for people like us. I was in a hurry and just paid for it and left.

But this is NOT really a magazine but a very clever 114 page commercial for some very smart Arizona real estate players – property management companies, mortgage companies, mom and pop realtors, REO realtors, appraisers, title insurance companies – they are all here playing the drums and singing the song on the profits to be made in the rental markets of Arizona.

Guess where the magazine is published?

Arizona would be correct answer.

This is so smart. Take a local magazine on real estate and market in nationally to attract buyers from all over the county to Arizona. Not only there are new construction ads here but also tons of rental property acquisitions ads. Some foreclosure ads also.

I am surprised that the Detroit commercial real estate market – which is by the way consistently ranks in the Top 5 nationwide for CAP rates and Cashflow never thought about banding together and producing a “magazine” like this.

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 03:14 PM | Permalink

I was trying to sort and sift my laptop hard drive last night and came across this Cashflow Fax that I sent out a while ago. This was one of those page and a half that generated enormous amounts of email back to me – all saying “Gee you are describing me.” .

Is the Internet a blessing or a curse for Michigan real estate investors?

Here is it – I love the Internet – have been using it since AOL version 1.0 when you could actually go into a chat room and talk to “real” girls. :- )

I did it all when it came out – From 9600K modem to printing and reading 100% text web pages to waiting literally for 3 hours to download Netscape 4.0 . Those were the days where even offices were not equipped with high speed Internet access.

Now I use it every single day (MLS, comps, keep in touch with my black book, appraisals being emaled back and forth, DU / LP ) and cannot imagine any serious real estate investor not using the powerful tools the Internet offers to run their Michigan real estate business.

If you were doing active real estate investing 5 years ago like I was then you know exactly what I am talking about.

I used to “drive” every other day to 1200 North Telegraph in Pontiac – the Oakland County Courthouse to pick up leads, do my research in their title research system.

Also drove and paid hundred of dollars to park my car at 400 Monroe in downtown Detroit to go upstairs to the Registrar of Deeds office in Wayne County offices. On a side note – is that highway robbery or not? To charge $7 to park your car for couple of hours!

Well the Internet changed it all – we went from being glued to our phones, practicing how to talk to investors or buyers of our homes to a more easier battle cry – “go to our website – it is all there”.

But there is a dark side of the Internet for the new real estate investor. It is too much, way too much information. You can print reams and reams of paper trolling through the forums, reading the free articles that the gurus have posted not to mention the additional information available now on real estate chat rooms / forums / blogs etc.

Ever looked at 500 pages of information that you just printed and said to yourself – how can I buy real estate before learning “every” single thing that needs to be know about real estate investment on the Internet?

Paralyzed and sitting still and NOT making offers, making deals, buying houses – YET printing more and more “knowledge” is not going to make you any money.

How do I know that? Because I sat on my ass for couple of months also, printing and reading tons of information that made me $0 .

Getting off my hiney, buying a house and selling it on the other hand sent me a check even on my first deal.

Listen – I don’t mind buying and absorbing information. I doubt it that anybody who reads this blog has spent more money than me in the last 12 months on buying information to sharpen the “axe” so as to speak.

But you cannot let information stop you from making money. And the whole thing about knowing “everything” about real estate investment before doing your first deal – pure 100% nonsense.

The only way to become good at anything is to start doing it after you have learned enough to start. Then you learn more and more at the same time you are running your business. But START! Look at some houses; make some crazy low ball offers and see what comes back.

A private joke in Ijlal Inner Circle is that the best absolute shortcut to learning how to do profitable Short Sales is to actually DO ONE in the next 30 days.

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 05:20 PM | Permalink

“ You know Mark what your problem is… you are a chicken. You don’t want to take any risks. The money in the world is made doing big deals. Forget doing these single family houses that bring in $20,000 checks. The real money is doing million dollar flips in Bloomfield Hills. Do ONE flip a year and just chill. Stop wasting your time doing these little deals – the million dollar market in Michigan is HOT.”

I have a confession to make.

I am extremely conservative when it comes to politics and money.

I like my money in ONLY one place – safe in my bank account.

I like my credit the way it is – good and up there.

I am in no hurry to get what I want out of my business and life. I enjoy every day. I took Nora out to lunch today. It was a late lunch / early dinner – around 5:00pm. We were sitting in a cozy Italian restaurant in Novi, relaxed after a busy day, enjoying very hot bread and extra virgin olive oil and all of a sudden I looked up and said , “ Hey do you know what time it is? Or more importantly do you remember what you and me were doing seven years ago at the same time?”

And then we both burst out laughing.

Dolly Patron, the famous singer and actress was working on a movie set, when a construction crew digging some ditches in sweltering heat outside the studio, drilled a hole in a pipe and disconnected the electricity to the studio.

As people scrammed in very hot weather inside the close door studio, tempers rose and soon everybody – director, producer, actors and extras were screaming at each other.

Dolly on the other hand relaxed, smiled and kept on chatting.

Somebody asked her surprised, “ Hey how come you are not swearing up and down because of the heat in here?”

Dolly smiled and said, “ Honey, you know I could have been out there, digging ditches, so THIS does not bother me.”

Once you have cleaned bathrooms (check), worked for $5 per hour (check), took two buses to work and back (check) drove a car with duct tape (check) been broke like a joke (check) – like yours truly,

Then you enjoy every day of your business, life and family.

I am in no hurry to be where eventually I want to be in life and business.

Apparently these people are.

Read what happened to Fifth Third Bank and to people who are in a hurry to get rich in Michigan real estate.

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 09:05 AM | Permalink

Georgia Kapsalis , owner of Added Value Realty was my guest on the newest episode of Michigan Real Estate Investing Radio.

She is a different kind of a Realtor, working exclusively with real estate investors in the Wayne, Macomb, Oakland counties who want to buy bank foreclosures.

Great thing about Georgia is that she is also a real estate investor and she knows the game. One of the obstacles that new Michigan real estate investors face is finding and working with real estate agents who “get it” and can help them negotiate good discounts and find good REO’s.

Georgia has been doing this for a very long time and she knows how to find and negotiate good REO deals.You can contact her at (248) 787-7325 or email her at Georgia@AddedValueRealty.com .

You can download the MP3 by clicking here:
MarkIjlal-October16-2006-Michigan-Real-Estate-Podcast7

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 12:16 AM | Permalink

Buying and selling foreclosures in Michigan is not a DEAL business. It is PEOPLE business.

Make that little change in your head and you will have a fat little bank account.

Everybody tries so hard when they start in Michigan real estate to find a good deal. I believe that you would do better if you work on building relationships.

For example lets take REO realtors in Michigan. Especially the Big Dog ones. Now I am assuming that you know what REO is; what is a REO Realtor and where can you and find the list. I have discussed that all in great details in Podcasts / blog posts / my radio show etc.

So we are going to skip the 1-2-3 of that. There are not that many at least in the big leagues. And we know that a small portion of them control the biggest REO listings in Michigan. Especially since the asset management companies started replacing the REO departments in the banks – they are even more important than ever.

Yet very very few real estate investors in Michigan take time or have a plan to really become the top number on their county’s or city REO realtor speed dial.

Business relationships just don’t happen. You got to have a plan to make them happen.

Here are some “specific” things to do to build these relationships:

1. You want to respect their time and your own. Nobody does anymore. If you want them to find deals for you – be extremely specific in what you are looking for. Saying things like – “ I want foreclosures in Wayne County” makes you look like a rookie first and foremost.

On the other hand, “ I am looking for 4 bedroom colonials or ranches with basement, preferably brick in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights and I am O.K. with rehabbing houses although I don’t do mold, foundation problems or fire damage houses.”

Which definitely sounds like you have spent some thinking about your business and not just bought your first late night infomercial course last weekend.

2. Biggest frustration of all REO realtors is real estate investors in Michigan who somehow think that actually financing and closing a deal is unimportant. Looking at 100 houses is more important.

Listen up – REO Realtors don’t get paid on the number of houses you saw and captured for eternity in your new $500 digital camera. They get paid when you “close” on a foreclosure with them.

A large number of Michigan real estate investors prioritize wrong. They think that finding a foreclosure is hard and they spend trying to find a good deal.

Reality is that with 35,000 bank foreclosures in Southeastern Michigan already this year it is not at all hard to find foreclosures in Michigan. Finding financing which is cheap, is O.K. with your credit situation and is also O.K. with you buying a REO – requires some knowledge.

You can find bunch of foreclosures but if you cannot close on them on the time you said you will in the purchase agreement then your word and your credibility is mud with the REO Realtors.

If you want to build relationships with them and make them fight for you in front of asset management firms to get your deals closed – then you have to deliver on your promise and close on time.

Is it possible that one day something will go wrong and you will not be able to close on time?

Yes! Business is life and things will happen that are outside your control. They have happened to me. Especially when I started but you really want to try and close on time on your first 3-4 deals so if something does wrong on a later date – there is some kind of a good track record for you in their mind.

3. Luckily from me I came from a culture where business is regularly conducted over food. No matter where you go or what time you go for business – they feed you. I saw deals being made, businesses being formed, partnerships created, new businesses alliances made, jobs offered – all over food.

So without thinking when I went into business for myself I started inviting people that crossed my paths in my Michigan real estate investment business to lunches – appraisers, loan officers, title company owners, closers, contractors, private investors and off course REO Realtors.

After all once you have broken bread with some one, shared a glass of wine with them – you are 10 steps ahead of your competition who are either lazy or super cheap to spend $50 on doing that.

Gayle Grix, one of last week’s Blueprint Bootcamp students asked me that how come I don’t weigh 400 pounds since I talk about food all the time? I don’t know the answer but I do know that food works. And food works flawlessly when it comes to building relationships.

After all is Thanksgiving the best holiday ever??? And is Thanksgiving all about giving thanks, sharing food and gratitude with people we have relationships with?

Take them out for lunch, tell them where you want to be in life, ask them what their ambitions are, how did they started, how do they keep themselves motivated, where do they see themselves in the coming years and you will instantly leap frog every single person on their house list.

Two of the biggest REO realtors who have been on the receiving end of my lunches have told me that in the last 10 years of selling bank foreclosures in Michigan – I am the ONLY one who has ever taken time to invite them to lunch.

You should always do what the majority does not want to do.

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 07:50 PM | Permalink

RCA-EZ Small Wonder

I started with a yellow legal pad when I first started driving five years ago look at houses in Southeastern Michigan.

Soon found out that I would forget miss something on some house once I have seen couple of them in a morning. So I started using a checklist. But using checklists can get a little boring and repetitive so I bought a digital voice recorder for $40 and that has stayed with me till this day.

The idea is pretty simple – walk in; look around; talk; walk out. Done with the house. Make sure to say the address of the house in the beginning and in the end. No tapes; no wires needed.

I even tried a handheld camera once in Belleville three years ago but it was painful trying to hold a camera with a flashlight (it was an REO on Lake Belleville and the bank in their infinite stupidity has disconnected the electricity). Not to mention switching tapes and making sure that you don’t use the same tape twice and accidentally wipe out something important.

Overall a royal pain in the rear end. I just did it one and gave up on the idea.

Now I wish that RCA came out with this five years ago. I just bought the above camera from RCA – it is $133 with a $30 rebate so around $100 and I am absolutely in love with it.

This is a digital movie camera that does not require a tape. Runs on AA batteries. Just hit record and you are good to go. Records 30 minutes at a time. Hook it to your computer and you can view all the houses you visited this morning on your screen for your partner’s pleasure or email them to your list of private investors.

The files run in Windows Media Player, which is present in all Windows computers. You can also plug this to a TV (the wires come with it) and watch the houses on your TV if your significant other wants to give you their opinion.

There is a no manual (thank God) but a tear sheet explaining how it works. I did not even bother. Just hit ON and made a movie of Rocco chilling in his crib. No fear of overwriting previous movies. It automatically starts a new file when you hit stop.

For $100 (after rebate) you cannot beat it. If you drive and look at houses all the time – you are going to absolutely love it. 30 minutes are enough to tape a house. Max 5-10 minutes each. If you have a laptop you can just plug this in your car and transfer the movies in 10 minutes. There is no software to install. Just plug it in and you are good to go. I bought my RCA-EZ Small Wonderfrom Amazon.com

Posted by Mark Ijlal at 02:48 PM | Permalink