My 11 predictions for Michigan real estate investors in 2008 are:

1. Goggle will launch a real estate site. Something radically different than Yahoo real estate, complete with support from YouTube videos (type an address and see a video / type a city and see the videos of all houses available for sale) and Goggle Maps (hey check out the neighborhood with closeup satellite pictures). It is going to be a blast.

2. Zillow.com will become better and bigger and continue to become a BIG threat to MLS in 2008. I am thinking video, better comps, and sales history from Michigan public records.

3. Prosper.com will launch a bigger lending program, probably in the $100,000 range.

4. More and more real estate investors from West Coast will show up and buy Michigan foreclosures especially in the City of Detroit and surrounding suburbs - Hamtramck, Eastpointe, Oak Park, Harper Woods, Dearborn etc.

Their plan is to buy cheap, fixed up and rented out for positive cash flow, something that they cannot do in West Coast without paying $250,000 to $450,000 for a single family home.

Good opportunity for you in 2008 to flip wholesale houses to them, charging a premium deal finder fee because it is not just the foreclosure they are buying form you but also your "eyes & ears on the ground", your local Michigan expertise (like not flipping them houses in war zones OR really depressed cities).

5. Loss Mitigation Officers will become even more short tempered with rookie real estate investors in Michigan who will hope to get their short sale packages across their desks and a quick approval in 2008 as more and more foreclosure come through the pipeline from East / West coast and they get even more busy with files.

Well known fact in Loss Mitigation industry is that the easiest way of getting your short sale package rejected is to package it wrong before faxing it in.

Michigan was and never will be on Loss Mitigation Officers Love List at national banks.

Doubt me? You can come with me in summer to a nationwide Asset Managers / Loss Mitigation Conference being held in Dallas that I am going to with couple of my Inner Circle members.

You can personally ask them what they "really" feel about Michigan and its 6 months redemption period.

If you want to lowest possible price on your short sale offers - half off is a good place to start - you must know and put your package together correctly to raise your chances of getting the lowest possible price possible.

6. More first time homebuyer loan programs are coming in 2008 in Michigan with all kind of promotions. LaSalle is already running a promotion for $2500 gift to the first time homebuyers toward their closing costs.

Another lender that I use is say YAY to 560 FICO, no seasoning of tile required, high LTV BUT only for first time homebuyers.

As banks adjust and try to figure out how to substitute their lost sub prime business - they will look at a traditionally strong and mature market that has never gone away will never go away.

New Years Eve, you would think people are washing their shot glasses and chilling vodka in the freezer right?

Wrong! Three phone calls so far on the HOTLINE set up for first time homebuyers today, people looking for their first home.

Snow on the ground or green leaves on the trees - first time home buyer market never goes away in Michigan.

7. More people than ever will discover real estate investing in Michigan - good for you and me as we can wholesale them properties.

Leverage is NOT only about borrowing money. Leverage is also about using your knowledge and contacts to make money in this real estate game.

8. More REO's in the suburbs coming your way. Hey this is a good week to pick up the phone and call your local top dog REO broker and take them out to lunch as a good way of starting 2008 for them and you.

Coming week I am booked solid, hanging out with old friends in the business, catching up and making sure that everybody has my number on their cell phone speed dial in 2008.

9. More hard money lenders in Michigan especially tri-county area will become very strict on lending on junkers in Detroit, Dearborn, Flint, Saginaw and Pontiac.

The "city thing" that I talk about like a broken record is becoming more and more important every day. The "where" you do this is as important as "what are the numbers" in 2008, 'nuff said.

10. More private money coming your way in the light of a ridiculously volatile stock market.

Bunch of my buddies are active traders for their own retirement accounts - they are the ones who never drink wine, they go straight for the hard stuff when we go out.

There are lot and lot of private investors looking for a decent terms, to work with real estate investors.

Fortunately for us on the other side of the fence, the majority of real estate investors lack the knowledge, a plan and the marketing system to get and keep them.

One of my Inner Circle members planted a seed 12 months ago. It came back with nine plus six zeros.

12 months are going to go by anyway, might as well plant seeds that will bring you these kind of phone calls and partners.

11. More whining, more waving of hands, more talk of "Michigan is going down, more cries of "USA is going down" by idiots who have no clue how easy we all have here to launch a business, do deals, build something fun and wonderful.

I mean, do you genuinely believe that life is hard in Michigan? That there is a "shortage" of money or opportunity here?

Let me tell you a little update about the "rest of the world" - my parents were locked in their home last week for four days as riots went all around their house, cars being burned, banks looted, gun fire echoes late into the night, as the city of my birth burned down all around them.

Believe me, on your worse day, you don't want to be where they are. Your tough self wont survive half a day. On my worse day, I am still happy to be here in Metro Detroit Michigan.

We had my Inner Circle Christmas party last weekend. I will post some videos and pictures next week. Frankly speaking the conversation at most tables would have been incredible even unbelievable to most new and seasoned real estate investors in Michigan.

I am not talking about the rightful "bragging" about the deals closed, the checks gotten that went on.

Fuggadabbout it....

Who cares what they did in 2007. It is done and over with.

No, what would burn most people earlobes would be what they are planning to "DO NEXT" in 2008.

Final prediction is - my Inner circle members will make more money in 2008 than they did in 2007, and that is ONE prediction that I know that I cannot miss.

On a side note, have your enrolled for January 2008 QuickStart Bootcamp Version 2.0 yet?

Why not?

What better way to start a new year than to lock yourself for three long days with me, and get a MRI brain scan of a totally updated Version 2.0 of my QuickStart Bootcamp for Michigan real estate investors?

One good deal will bring you $30,000. Not knowing where to go and get five of them in 2008 is going to cost you even more. QuickStart Version 2.0 is the place where people from all over Michigan come to make sure that there are checks like these in their future.

My shortcuts, strategies, black book contacts, tools and a totally different way of doing real estate investing in Michigan.

Man, I am excited about 2008. Excited all the good things happening in Downtown Detroit. Excited about GM finally doing the right things. Excited about Goggle coming to Ann Arbor and continuously hiring. Excited about banks still acting stupid. Excited about the easy pickings in the suburbs all over Michigan to pick up houses that require nothing but paint and cleanup with fifty K in equity.

My plan for 2008 is : Make lots of money. Have lots of fun doing it.

I hope when you write your New Year's resolutions... you have a similar plan for 2008.

Cheers and a Happy New Year,