OK. You may have noticed that I’ve been inattentive to updating this blog for the last six months. 

I have a good excuse (and a note from my Doctor). Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes, people will say ‘no’ when they really mean something else.  Here’s a case in point that probably cost me thousands of dollars in deals that I ultimately didn’t do because I took ‘no’ for an answer: Read the rest of this entry »

…includes the ability to make profitable deals on a serial basis, fairly consistently, over an extended period of time.

Many people talk themselves out of entering the real estate arena because they can’t forecast future real estate prices accurately.  Worrying about buying at the very bottom of the market may not be that important. Read the rest of this entry »

The CA Insurance Commission has responded to an outraged real estate industry by sending a letter clarifying the limits of their regulations and relaxing the interpretations to exclude basic customer services like providing title profiles, copies of recorded docs, etc. Read the rest of this entry »

As of July 1st, 2009, title insurance companies have responded to changes in insurance laws which restrict the services that they may provide, such as copies of recorded deeds, property descriptions and valuation (sales comparables). I think many investors, large and small, were caught off guard by this new legislation and are scampering to find alternative solutions. Read the rest of this entry »

Are parts of the California real estate market turning into Detroit-esque places where plummeting values have rendered some properties virtually worthless?  It’s beginnning to look that way in some of the tougher markets.

I walked away from a little deal earlier this week.  A woman contacted us by submitting an heir advance request form.  Read the rest of this entry »

Last weekend I attended the Miller/Schaub/Fortunato event in San Francisco, host by Michael Morrongiello’s Bay Area Wealth Builders group.  Had a great time and learned an awful lot, as this has become an expectation of mine. Read the rest of this entry »

I received several emails yesterday from someone who had attended my probate seminar this past April at LAX.  After beating around the bush with several replies back and forth, he finally got to what he was looking for.

It seems that his idea was that I would feed him deals that he would work and learn the probate investment business by, presumably, applying what he learned along the way on those leads.  Read the rest of this entry »

Recently, I read a post on one of the R. E. discussion boards from a homeowner named ‘Alice’ who at the time, seemed to me to represent the mentality of perhaps hundreds of thousands of borrowers angry about loosing their homes and looking for someone (like investors) to blame.  Here’s my post: Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve never lost sleep about a deal I didn’t do.  That’s always been true, even if someone else came behind me, bought it, and made a ton of dough.  After all, what’s peace of mind worth to you?

On the other hand, we don’t make money if we don’t make offers and do deals.  Here’s what I experienced during the last few days: Read the rest of this entry »