G Letter

January 2015

This Year's Resolution:
Stop Procrastinating & Finally Make It Happen

With a new year comes another set of New Year's Resolutions

You know, classics like

•“This year, I’m going to get out of debt and save money.”
•“This year, I’m going to lose 25 pounds and get in shape.”
•“This year, I’m going to finally make some money in real estate.”

The problem with New Year’s resolutions is that they rarely have a real plan behind them. The important question to ask yourself is HOW are you going to lose 25 pounds or finally make some money in real estate? Do you have a written plan to get those things done?

Without a plan with tangible, measurable goals that you can work toward every day, it’s easy to fall victim to procrastination. Psychologists have discovered that procrastination is actually a human coping mechanism. When people procrastinate, they’re avoiding emotionally unpleasant tasks and instead doing something that provides a temporary mood boost. The procrastination itself then causes shame and guilt—which in turn leads people to procrastinate even further, creating a vicious cycle.

Before you get down and depressed, there’s hope. One key to beating procrastination is to begin high priority items as soon as possible because that creates momentum. Progress on our goals feeds our well-being. So the most important thing you can do is make a little progress. Progress, even just a little, will fuel your well-being and your motivation.

In order to work on the highest priority items, however, you have to prioritize your to-do list. Let’s face it, you have things on your to-do list that are much more important than others. If a task is worth doing, it’s worth doing at the earliest reasonable time. Do the most important things first and either trash what’s left or get someone else to do them.

If making money in real estate is a top priority, make sure your daily activities are income-generating activities that will add to your bottom line like following up on a lead from a motivated seller or making a new purchase offer on a property. Reorganizing your home office or redesigning your company logo should take a back seat to actions that are more likely to put money in your pocket.

So how do you get to the next rung on the ladder? You reach for it—seems simple, right? Simple but not necessarily so easy. If you’re having trouble getting started yourself, get help from a friend, a partner or a coach.

Action is the key component. Before you think it over for the umpteenth time, make a decision and act.

Best wishes for success and happiness in 2015. Onward and upward! 

unnamed-3.jpg

G Letter

December 2014

The Best Holiday Gift To Give

Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.
- Thomas Jefferson 

Seasons Greetings to all of you in The Real Estate Insider family. Let’s count our collective blessings for 2014 and look forward to a bountiful 2015. As you are out frantically doing last minute holiday shopping, consider that one of the greatest gifts you can give is the gift of honesty. Before you can be honest with others, however, you must be honest with yourself.

We all like to think of ourselves as basically honest, but we all have areas of our lives where we’re pretending to be something that we’re not. We pretend we’re on a diet, even as we’re sneaking chocolate when nobody’s watching. We pretend we’re working hard even when we’re watching TV or silly videos on youtube.

If you want to be whole and happy, then being “basically honest” isn’t good enough. Every time you do a little end-run around the truth, you lose a part of the truth of who you are. Self-deception is a slippery slope, so when you pretend to yourself, you cheat yourself out of the opportunity to look squarely at the things that you wish were different and take measures to change them.

When you are dishonest with others, you sabotage the trust that’s required for that relationship to thrive, and you undermine your own sense of trust. Setting a standard of absolute honesty for yourself prepares you for moments of temptation. Every lie you tell out of fear strengthens the fear. Every truth you tell strengthens your courage and confirms your integrity.

Practicing absolute honesty is very liberating—you find power in living according to your own beliefs, preferences and desires, instead of trying to mold your behavior according to others people’s expectations. You learn to trust yourself completely and to take full ownership of your decisions. Your relationships get cleaner, clearer and deeper. Your stress decreases, and life becomes more interesting and more fun.

Best wishes for success and happiness in the New Year.

Onward and upward! 

G Letter

November 2014

The Power Of Gratitude:
Why Thanksgiving Matters
 

Every year, millions of Americans gather for Thanksgiving to celebrate family, friends and connection. Thanksgiving is more than just a cultural tradition, however, and science now shows that celebrating Thanksgiving and practicing gratitude can elevate our levels of happiness. Gratitude enriches human life and mental well-being. It increases self-esteem and increases your energy levels. Gratitude elevates, energizes, inspires and transforms. It strengthens relationships, reduces stress and improves health.

So how does gratitude improve health? On one level, it helps people sleep better. A 2009 study of 401 people—40% of whom had clinical sleep disorders—found that the most grateful people had better sleep quality, normalized sleep duration (not too long or too short), were able to fall asleep faster at night, and also had less daytime tiredness compared to those who weren’t as thankful.

Gratitude also puts situations into perspective. When we make a point to see the good as well as the bad, it becomes more difficult to complain and stay stuck in a rut. Gratitude helps us realize what we have and reduces our constant need for wanting more all the time. So, while it may seem easier to focus on problems and grievances, you should make a point to introduce a little gratefulness into every day instead.

Gratitude Is Not Only The Greatest Of All Virtues,But The Parent Of All The Others.

-Cicero 

Gratitude not only helps you, it also helps those around you. Other people are moved, opened and humbled by your expressions of gratitude.

So how can we increase our gratitude? We can make gratitude a daily habit. At the end of every day, I try to write down at least one thing that I am grateful for. This simple, daily ritual improves my mood, (which is particularly helpful after frustrating days) and gives me more energy for the next day.

Take time every day to appreciate what you have as well as those you have around you. Happiness, meaning, and value in life don’t come from external things; they only come from within. Happiness is not discovered; it’s created on an individual basis based on the attitude you posess.

So this Thanksgiving, express gratitude for all you have. When you express gratitude for something, you attract more of that thing into your life. Gratitude is one of the surest paths to continued happiness.

Onward and upward! 

G Letter

October 2014

GLOctober.jpg

Identify Things You Can and Cannot Control 
 

Do you ever worry about things that are beyond your control? Unfortunately, worrying creates physical and mental problems without providing any benefits. People often worry about both the past and the future instead of focusing what they can do in the present. There’s nothing you can do about the past—the clock can’t be turned back. Worrying about what might happen in the future is equally futile and creates mental monsters that can paralyze you.

The truth is that there are some things that you have no control over and others that you have complete and total control over—knowing the difference and then acting on that realization is one of the keys to personal productivity and satisfaction. Why worry about things you can’t control when you can keep yourself busy on the things you can control? Whenever you catch yourself worrying, repeat the serenity poem to yourself:

“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Letting go of worry will help you to take action and exert more control over your life and circumstances. Action defeats worry, inaction feeds it. When you’re faced with a problem, the first step you should take is to identify the source and cause of the problem and whether the problem is out of your control. If the problem is within your control, come up with possible solutions and options for handling the problem. Weigh all of the facts, evaluate all your options, make the best decision possible, and then take action. This is all you can do. Prioritize your effort and your energy on the things that make the biggest impact first. Being proactive is one of the most effective ways to combat worry.

Here’s to a productive and worry-free month. Onward and upward!

"Suffering comes from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power."

- Epictetus 

7 THINGS YOU CAN’T CONTROL IN REAL ESTATE 

• Inflation
• Price of land
• Interest Rates**
• Cost of Insurance
• Price of building material
• Taxes (Property and Income)
• Sale Price (when you sell) and Rent Price (when you rent)*

*The person with the money always decides the price—this is another way of saying that ‘the market’ ultimately controls these prices.

**your credit score has some influence over the interest rate you’ll pay, but you have no say in the Prime Rate which underpins most loans.


7 THINGS YOU CAN & SHOULD CONTROL IN REAL ESTATE

• The terms and contents of any contract that you CHOOSE to sign 

• Who you rent your property out to (rule #1 for landlords: screen your tenants!). 

• The price you pay to contractors and other professionals you work with (realtors, property managers, inspectors, contractors, attorneys, title companies, insurance brokers, etc.). Remember, the person with the money always decides the price!

• The condition of your property. Real estate is an active investment—this gives you much more control over property than you’d have over other assets, like stocks.

• The price you pay for property. Buyers always decide the price—the person with the money always ultimately decides the price.

• Guidelines you set for tenants, contractors, or anyone else you do business with. Setting rules and regulations for you and everyone you do business with eliminates risk.

• The professionals you choose to work with (realtors, property managers, inspectors, contractors, attorneys, title companies, insurance brokers, etc.). Only work with the best most trustworthy and reputable people you can find.

G Letter

September 2014

Your Journey To Financial Freedom & Independence Starts Now
 

When I was four years old, I noticed a price tag inside the cover of a children’s book I was reading, I thought to myself, “Wow, book equals money.” So I got a stack of white paper, a stapler, a magic marker and a box of crayons and then painstakingly copied the entire book, page by page (words and pictures). When I finished my masterpiece, I went door to door trying to sell my ‘re-created’ book to neighbors. This was the first of many business ventures I’ve attempted over the years--some were successful, but many like this one were not. I believe that perseverance above all else is the key to success because successful people never give up and just outlast everyone else. 

When I was growing up, I loved music and sports. I played soccer competitively and was an accomplished violinist. I was also fiercely independent and hated to play by other people’s rules. After missing several rehearsals a few weeks before a European tour, I was kicked out of the New Jersey Youth Symphony—I’d have to wait years to get another chance to travel overseas.

After finishing college, I wasn’t sure what career path to take. I wandered from one unfulfilling corporate job to another. The pointless meetings, stifling bureaucracy and office politics made me sick. I stumbled onto real estate accidentally 15 years ago and, in my free time, began amassing a small portfolio of properties by partnering with other people who had money to invest. Although I was earning a six-figure salary as a director at a Fortune 100 company, I was miserable—it was time for a change. My mom thought I was crazy, but in 2002, I took the plunge and became a full-time real estate investor. Now that I control my time, thanks to real estate, I’ve travelled to every continent on earth, I spend several weeks every winter in South America and I volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters and a local homeless charity in my community. I also get to indulge my lifelong love of music by performing live on a regular basis, both as a solo artist and as the founding member of the funk fusion band, GMJ Groove. What would you do if you had more control of your time?

The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does.

— James A. Michener 

 Real estate, like all endeavors, has its share of challenges and frustrations, but I’ve learned to enjoy the ride—the ups, the downs, the smiles and the frowns. I think you’ll find that most things in life that are worthwhile require some effort, and I’m here to help you leverage real estate to make your dreams come true. I love to teach and I have hundreds of former students throughout the United States and Canada. Many of my students have found success investing in real estate, earning extra income buying and selling property for profit and building wealth over time with rental properties. One of my former students recently founded a Montessori School for kids in Jersey City. I started this newsletter to share what I’ve learned about real estate with you because lifelong learning has been one of the keys to my success. I share real estate tips and market insights in The Real Estate Insider that you can immediately put to use and in every issue, I answer a real estate question from a subscriber like you.

Welcome to the Real Estate Insider family—I’m glad to have you on board. Your journey to financial freedom and independence begins now. Buckle up—I guarantee it’s gonna be a fun and fulfilling ride.