Yep, that’s right. Money WILL NOT make you happy. No amount of money will. That’s what I’ve come to discover over the last few years as I’ve gone from nearly dead broke to earning and spending more than any reasonable person should.

It’s our family that makes us happy (sometimes!). Our friendships. The little things that make us smile or laugh each day. The excitement of watching our favorite sports team rally from behind. Or being totally immersed in a great live concert. It’s having meaning in our lives. It’s so many things. But simply having a lot of money is not one of them.

Here’s another secret. Even though money won’t make you happy, it will most likely make your life MUCH EASIER. So if you’re an unhappy person, it will make you an unhappy person with an easy life. And if you’re a happy person, you’ll smile and laugh your way all the way down easy street.

By “much easier”, I mean that you can choose to work less and play more. You can hire people to take care of your house, your business, and your kids (on occasion hopefully!). You can use this free time to do whatever you wish. You can give back, pursue your hobbies, spend time with family and friends, and so much more.

And THAT is why obtaining financial freedom is such a worthwhile goal, even when money itself won’t make you happy.

With that in mind, here is a glimpse into my world and how I spend some of my free time. The pics below were taken last week while I was in Seattle for seven days playing in a national softball tournament. If I were still working at ExxonMobil, this trip wouldn’t have even been possible.

There were 34 teams, and we finished in 5th place. Early on in the tournament, we beat the team from Boston that ended up winning the whole thing, so we think we can take first place next year. For now, we’re satisfied with our 5th place finish. Click on the image below, and enjoy the pics!…

Clicking on the image above will take you to the pictures on Shutterfuly’s website.  Once you are there, click to “View Album” and then click to “View Slideshow”. Once the slideshow starts, click on “Options” in the top-right corner, and select to view Titles and Captions. Enjoy!

Until next time, happy (and profitable) investing!

Doug Smith
President
myHouseDeals.com

P.S. Kick start your journey to financial freedom with a free trial to myhousedeals.com. Get access to hundreds of wholesale deals and motivated seller leads in your area, plus $1,253 in free bonuses by going to www.myhousedeals.com/freetrial now. See you there!

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Hi folks,

I hope you’re having a great Labor Day holiday! I had a lot of time to think about what real estate investing tips would be most useful for you in today’s market. Due to the current mortgage crisis, I thought the basics of real estate foreclosure would be especially pertinent. In order to invest profitably in the pre-foreclosure market, it’s necessary to understand all aspects of the foreclosure process and how to operate in each of the stages within that process. It’s also necessary to understand what options are available to homeowners so you can see the process through their eyes and help them to make the best decision possible as well as the best one for yourself.

Let’s start today by looking at the first two stages of foreclosure — pre-foreclosure and foreclosure. Next week, I’ll finish up this series with a discussion on real estate owned (REO or OREO) foreclosure. As an investor, you can operate in any three of these stages, but, as you’ll see, the pre-foreclosure stage offers the greatest profit opportunities and the least amount of hassles.

The Pre-Foreclosure Stage

A pre-foreclosure sale takes place between the time when the lender files suit and when the property is scheduled to be sold at a public foreclosure action or a trustee’s sale. Here’s an overview of the benefits of buying pre-foreclosure properties so you can contrast them with the disadvantages of the foreclosure and REO stages.

Benefits of Pre-Foreclosure

- Deep discounts

- Ability to research and inspect property/more accurate value estimates

- Ability to avoid the potentially expensive bidding process

- Ability to structure sales agreements in a creative fashion

- Less hassle from third parties (lenders, etc.)

- The potential for minimum cash outlay

The Foreclosure Stage

When institutions (banks, lenders, etc.) lend money to individuals for the purchase of a home or other property, they naturally expect to be paid back. They’re in the business of lending money to make a profit. When borrowers (mortgagors) fail to meet their mortgage obligations, lenders want the property returned so they can re-sell it to others for a profit or at least reduce their losses. They regain the property through the foreclosure process.Of course, both mortgagors and lenders will do their utmost to work out an agreement that will allow people to keep their homes and the lender to keep receiving payments. In addition, neither the mortgagors nor the lenders want the legal complications of the foreclosure process. Unfortunately for them - but fortunately for you! - they can’t always work out an agreement, and the lenders have to initiate foreclosure proceedings. So, how is the foreclosure process begun and what’s involved in it? It’s important for you to be aware that every state and county has different rules and regulations that you’ll need to learn well. Otherwise, you may miss something or make a mistake than can cost you money. However, in general, every state within the U.S. uses one of two types of foreclosure — judicial and non-judicial.

Judicial Foreclosures

In states with this system, foreclosure can only take place through court action. The process usually begins when the home owner falls behind on his or her mortgage payments due to one of several reasons (divorce, health issues, loss of job, etc.). Typically, the foreclosure process goes like this:

- A lender files a lawsuit with the appropriate court to foreclose on the mortgage or deed of trust.

- The borrower must respond to the lender’s “complaint.”

- A court hearing date is set.

- During the hearing, the judge evaluates the complaint and either dismisses it or orders foreclosure of the loan.

- If the decision is for foreclosure, the judge then orders that a public foreclosure auction sale be held on a specified date.

- The public foreclosure auction date is then advertised to the public.

- At the auction, the property is sold to the highest bidder. Or, if there’s no acceptable bid, the property reverts back to the lender.

- A “deficiency judgment” may be levied against the borrower. This is a personal judgment against the borrower for the remaining balance on the loan after a foreclosure sale.

- After the sale, the borrower does have the opportunity to exercise “statutory redemption rights.” That is, within a specified amount of time, he or she can regain the property by paying all costs and interest (in addition to the mortgage debt) to the lender.

- If the borrower does not exercise statutory redemption rights within the specified amount of time, a sheriff’s deed or certificate of title is given to the highest bidder.

Non-Judicial Foreclosures

In states with this process, the foreclosing lender makes use of the “power of sale” covenant specified in the mortgage or trust deed. This is the right of the lender to force the sale of a property without judicial action. Typically, this is how the process works: 

The lender files a default notice with the appropriate office (county recorder, public record, etc.).

1. A trustee’s sale date is set.
2. The sale is publicly advertised.
3. At auction, the property is sold to the highest bidder. Or, it’s taken back by the lender if no bids are acceptable.
4. As with judicial foreclosures, the borrower may exercise statutory redemption rights after the sale.
5. After statutory redemption rights have expired, the deed is given to the highest bidder.

At this point, you may be thinking to yourself, “I could pick up some pretty good bargains at an auction sale.” And, it’s true — you can! However, an auction has several disadvantages that make it a poor choice compared to pre-foreclosure bargains.

Here’s what they are:

Greater competition - by definition, auctions are public which means everybody and his brother knows about the sale and can enter the bidding. This can drive the price up and have two potential negative results. One, it can put the property beyond your means. Or, two, if you do win the property, it may well reduce the profit you can earn.

Fixed sales terms - at a public auction, there’s no opportunity to negotiate sales terms unlike in the pre-foreclosure stage. You have no flexibility and no opportunity to negotiate terms that could earn you more profit.

No inspections - at a foreclosure auction, you buy the property “as is.” You have no opportunity to inspect it in order to discover any defects (leaky roofs, etc.) that could end up costing you a lot of money.

Proof of funds is required - if you’re a bidder at a public auction, you’ll be required to show proof that you have the money necessary to complete the purchase. For example, you may be required to have cash or a cashier’s check for X amount of your winning bid (5%, 10%, etc.). Then, it’s likely that you’ll be required to pay the rest of your bid amount within a short period of time as well as title transfer fees. (This requirement keeps non-qualified bidders from slowing down the process.)

No leverage - since auctions are strictly “cash and carry,” you’re not able to use the opportunity to line up a lender to finance the balance of the sale price. If you’re new to investment and have little free cash available, this means you’re effectively shut out of the auction process.

You may not be able to insure the title - title insurers do not like risk, and most of them consider foreclosed properties to be an unacceptable risk. They’ll take a very close look at such property titles and, if they find any errors, they may well refuse to insure them. This, in turn, may leave you with unacceptable risk.

Potential for bidder collusion - there’s always the possibility that a group of bidders may meet before an auction sale and determine a maximum bidding amount on a desired property. This has the effect of restricting competition among other, less well-heeled, bidders. The result? You don’t get the property and end up wasting your time.

Poor property condition - after you win a property, you may find it’s in such poor condition that no property or casualty firms want to insure it.

The possibility of unfriendly occupants - if the property is occupied by unfriendly owners or tenants, you may be forced to evict them. This can be expensive and time-consuming. Basically, it means you can’t do anything with the property until the occupants are ousted — not a good scenario for making a profit!

The “right of redemption” obstacle - from earlier in this email, you’ll remember that owners have the right to redeem their property after the sale within a specified amount of time. The redemption period varies with the state and can range from anywhere from 30 days to a year. So, this means you run the risk of losing the property after having bought it.

Technical flaws in the foreclosure process - errors can abound in the foreclosure sales procedure — misspelled names, wrong street addresses, math errors, failure to adhere strictly to procedures, etc. This opens up the possibility for the previous owner to appeal for an overturn of the sale. Resolving these issues can take months and add up to a big headache for you in terms of time and money.

Well, that’s all for now.

To Fun, Fortune, & Freedom!

Tim Mai
Lead Mentor
MyHouseDeals.com

P.S. Don’t forget to watch for an email from me next Monday with the rest of this foreclosure series. I’ll be discussing real estate owned (REO or OREO) foreclosure.

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Hey folks,

Guess what I was doing last week? I was chillin’ out with my friend Roger Salam on his dock taking pictures for those Corona beer commercials. Take a look at this picture and see if you think the Corona company will hire me.

Do you know Roger? He is first and foremost a full time real estate investor. Roger has been investing full time in the greater Tampa Bay area in Florida since 1999. Besides investing, he also speaks at various real estate seminars around the county. Before joining the real estate investment field, Roger served as a professional speaker and trainer with the world renowned motivational speaker and peak performance coach Anthony Robbins. He has delivered over 3,700 professional presentations to various corporations, non-profit organizations and educational institutions in North America, Europe and Asia.

I consider Roger a mentor. While we were hanging out, I asked him if he’d be willing to do an online training with my students about how he was able to buy a $20 million mansion with no money down. You’ll like his reply.

He said, “For your people Tim, I’ll do even better than that. I’ll teach them a few powerful strategies that I personally use to generate instant cash infusion any time I want.” Then he went on and shared how many of his students are using these strategies to make $7,000 or more in 7 days… and then do it over and over again. So I said, “That’s AWESOME! Let’s have you scheduled to teach these powerful strategies this upcoming Wednesday on our webinar”… And everything else is history. You’ve gotta thank me for this one.The webinar takes place TONIGHT Wednesday, August 27th at 5:00PM PT / 6:00PM MT / 7:00PM CT / 8:00PM ET.

Yes, sign me up for the FREE webinar!

Here’s the scoop on what you’ll learn on this online seminar.

You’ll discover…

* 7 powerful ways to make $7k in 7 days
* How to get paid on deals regardless of whether or not the sellers are motivated… Even if they owe more than their house is worth
* How to get paid before you even get into the deals
* How to get paid from other investors’ dead leads
* How to partner up on deals with Roger Salam’s team and start making money immediately … This is an incredible opportunity!
* And much much more…

You need to go and register for it right now.

Yes, sign me up for the FREE webinar!

To Fun, Fortune, & Freedom!

Tim Mai
Lead Mentor
MyHouseDeals.com

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Perhaps you saw the USA men’s gymnastic team competing in the Beijing Olympics.  Sure, we all liked them because they are the Americans, but the rest of the world saw them as the stragglers, the Johnny come lately team, the ones who brought up the rear.  Actually, because of injuries to team members who were scheduled to compete in Beijing, two men were added at the last minute.  One of them was told to suit up the day before they left for China.

Come from behind or not, they surprised a lot of people when they took the bronze medal in all around competition.  I remember watching the night they competed.  China’s team was polished and performing to a very high degree of athleticism.  Japan was right behind them taking no prisoners on the way to the podium. 

Just before the Team USA was to begin, they huddled up and got into a squatting position.  They put their hands together in the center of the huddle and the media tuned a microphone in to eavesdrop on the conversation.  22 year old Jonathan Horton, 5 foot 1 inch all 126 pounds of him looked into the eyes of all his team members and said; “No fears, no regrets”.  With that they threw up their hands in a cheered and went on to make history as the come from behind team with only a slight chance of winning.  Horton later went on to win the silver medal on the high bars in a stunning performance.

We can learn a lot from athletes, even if we don’t play a sport or are not particularly interested in sports.  They know a lot about determination and focus.  They know a lot about not giving up.  They know a lot about bringing everything they have got inside to bear on their goals and not giving up until they reach them.  They know that you only lose when you quit, and the only person who can make them quit is themselves.

Interesting technique for getting what you want, don’t you think?  A lot of getting what you want in sports or in real estate or any kind of investing is not giving up.  We all get knocked down and trampled by ponies from time to time.  The whiners limp off to the sidelines and make excuses.  The winners pick themselves up, dust their britches off, put their hat back on their head and continue to move forward to their goal.  There is magic in not giving up.  There is magic in keeping fear from running your life.

Everyone gets timid or afraid from time to time.  It’s like a five year old child who is jumping up and down when you get in the car to go someplace.  The child wants attention, the child wants to drive, and the child wants to be in control of everything.  Fear is like that.  It comes in and gets to take over because it is screaming and distracting you and drawing you away from your focus and your goals.  Like the child, it can make getting to where you are going a nightmare.

But let’s think for a minute.  The child is a part of us, and we care for them as being a part of us and we want them to be safe, but they will not be allowed to drive.  They will be along for the ride, but they will be in the back seat buckled up and WE are driving.  We are the ones in charge.  We’re in charge of the child or the fear, we’re in charge of the ride or the focus on the goal, and we are the ones doing the driving.  You can be afraid and still do it, you can be afraid and still go for it.  You can be afraid and still get what you want.

If you are going to do something, then do it.  If you are not going to do it, then why spend your time, your money and your resources playing like you are doing it?  It’s a deception we use to justify not trying hard enough to prevail.  “Oh, I tried and tried, but the market wasn’t right.” Or ”If it hadn’t been for old so and so, I would have gotten that deal.”  Any excuse will do if you aren’t doing it.  Trying.  Like Yoda said; “There is no try, only do.”

When you look back on your life today, I think you’ll find that the list of things you regret is heavily populated with the things that you did not do.  The things you postponed, the things you didn’t go for, the things you let your own fear talk you out of.  How would that list look, how many entries would you have on that list if you were driven by possibility of success rather than fear of failure? 

By the way, Horton won his silver in a daring routine that he had never done in competition before.  When asked why he took the risk of bombing in the Olympic competition with an untried routine, he said; “I knew that if I didn’t, I wouldn’t medal”.

How’s that for “no fear, no regrets”?  Well, we can’t all be Olympic athletes, but we can learn to act like them where it suits us best, right in our performance.  Don’t go to your grave with your music left in you unplayed.  Do your dance, sing your song.  Go for it.

Until next time, happy (and profitable) investing!

Doug Smith
President
myHouseDeals.com

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Last week, I told you why investing in long-term rentals is hotter than ever. And I went on to give you a few tips on managing your properties. One of those tips involved visiting your property on a regular basis to make sure that your tenants are keeping the property in a good condition. Ensuring that your properties remain in good condition can often reduce your maintenance costs by up to 25%.

But you’re probably asking yourself a very important question …“So, what do I actually do when I visit my properties?”

Well, lots of things! Take a look at the air conditioning filter for starters. If that is dirty, it is putting a strain on your heating and air conditioning equipment and will shorten its life. It will also reduce the comfort of the tenant and increase his steadily rising utility bills. You need to mention that. It lets the tenant know that you are on his side.

Check the faucets for leaks, and check for leaks under the sinks. It’s easy to make a plumbing repair when the leak is new, but if you let it go, you have a plumbing repair and also a carpentry repair, and we don’t need any of that.

Look for trees touching the roof or the sides of the house. They can abrade the roof and start leaks. You can take a little of your paint along and do the odd touch-up when you are there, telling the tenant to “let me just pretty this up for you”. Your concern for them and your concern for their having a nice place to live can easily translate into goodwill that you just can’t buy anywhere.

Check the smoke alarms. Do it for the safety of the tenants, do it because you don’t want to have the house burn down, or do it because you don’t want to respond to a wrongful death suit. Just do it. Smoke alarm batteries are cheap. Bring a full set of fresh batteries, one for each smoke alarm in the house, about once a year.

Check the disposal if there is one. Some folks don’t use the disposal, and lack of use can end up with the blades in the disposal seizing up and the unit having to be replaced.

Same with the dishwasher. Some folks who live by themselves or with one other person don’t feel like it’s worth running the dishwasher for the small amount of dishes. If you don’t run the dishwasher, the seals dry out, and then they like to leak when you get around to running them again. Ask your tenant to run the dishwasher once or twice a month to keep it operating properly.

Poke your head up in the attic. Make sure that the tenant is not stacking his “treasures” around the gas furnace, causing a fire hazard. Look for anything broken or damaged that could progress into something that is a major expense. An example would be a roof leak around a water heater vent. Catch it now and it is cheap to fix. Wait until the water is coming through the roof and into the house and that’s a different story.

If you don’t allow pets and happen to see a dog on the porch, say something like “is that the neighbor’s dog?” It is disarming and gets your point across without anyone getting unnecessarily frosty with anyone else. The next thing you do is to revisit your lease agreement with them and remind them that NO violations of the agreement will be allowed.

Treat them nicely when you make your visit. You are in your investment, and you are in their home. Act like you would like your guests to act and keep everything positive and respectful. It will go a long way to enlisting their help in the maintenance of your property.

And if you’re not interested in spending the time or energy to take care of your property on your own, here’s one final tip that can make you life much easier: Network with other real estate investors to find the best property management company in your city. They’ll never manage your property as well as you would, but they can sure help you to save your sanity!

Until next time, happy (and profitable) investing!

Doug Smith
President
myHouseDeals.com

P.S. The properties on MyHouseDeals.com aren’t just for investors looking to wholesale or rehab. In fact, most of the properties would make excellent rentals. To view the properties in your area, simply sign up for a free trial at www.myhousedeals.com/freetrial.

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Hey folks,

Tim Mai here, I hope you all had a fun and productive weekend! I’m really getting excited about being the new Lead Mentor of myHouseDeals.com, and I wanted to get started right away. In order to get you the most information possible, I’ve decided to update you every Monday with great real estate investing tips and advice that I think would be very useful for you. This week’s topic is How to Do More Deals:

Do you want to know what the #1 secret to doing more deals is?

The #1 secret is…

Drum roll…

**MAKE MORE OFFERS!**

The secret to doing more deals is quite simply, just make more offers. Now, your next question might be, “How do I make more offers?”, right? There are many ways of doing this, but there’s a great way to do this and it’s totally PAIN FREE:  call everyone in the Motivated Seller Leads listings on MyHouseDeals.com and make them offers! First, build rapport with them and then ask them the five questions in this video:

Well, I hope you enjoyed this free lesson and training video; watch for another email from me next week with more great real estate investing tips.

Gotta go now. I’ll talk to you soon.

To Fun, Fortune, & Freedom!

Tim Mai
Lead Mentor
MyHouseDeals.com

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Hey folks,

Tim Mai here again.  In case you missed the webinar on Wednesday, it is going to be replaying here until midnight TONIGHT:  http://www.myhousedeals.com/TimMai.

Make sure to check it out before it’s gone!

To Fun, Fortune, & Freedom!

Tim Mai
Lead Mentor
MyHouseDeals.com

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