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On the Tipping Point of Communications

April 12, 2007 by Liz

Connectors and Mavens on the Tipping Point

Something Mark Goodyear said yesterday about SOBCon reminded me of how often folks have called me a connector or a maven and of how many connectors and mavens I know.

. . . a connector and a maven – one who links like-minded people and one who gathers and shares deep information . . . that sounds the definition of almost every relationship blogger I know. We are connectors and mavens at the tipping point of communication.

Read the whole feature in today’s Blog Herald

The Blog Herald

It’s about blogging and real life.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles
Liz Strauss at The Blog Herald, The Blogging Times, and Who’s One in a Million?

Filed Under: SOB Business, Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, SOBcon-07, sobevent.com, The-Blog-Herald

Interview 15.3: Jeff Walks Us Through the Process

April 11, 2007 by Liz

Jeff, Now What Do We Do?

Jeff Brown pix

Yesterday Jeff Brown, real estate investment advisor, explained the two myths that prevent most people from enjoying a work-free retirement. Once folks understand that they might actually be better off with a mortgage and investments. They get interested in the process. That’s where our conversation went next.

Jeff, how do you answer when someone says “Okay, I’m ready to invest. What is the process?”

Liz, Let’s assume we know exactly where you are now financially. Let’s further assume you have about $125K in cash to invest.

The first thing we do is decide how much should be allotted to cash reserves, or what I’ve already referred to as your Sominex account. In this case I’ll feel very comfortable if you retain around $40K. This will result in excellent sleep even though you had to buy that $700 refrigerator for unit #2. J

Before we get all excited and start making offers, we’ll head over to the lender to get you pre-qualified for the loans you’ll be getting. This will result in a letter from the lender saying you’re a solid citizen, and that yes, they’ll loan you the money for the property on which you’ve made an offer. This allows you to look very strong as a buyer from the seller’s viewpoint.

We’ve decided that since you need to grow your capital, Boise is a very good fit. You can find homes in great areas in the price range of $175-240K. The area is a job magnet, unemployment is below the nation’s average, and people are moving there in droves. In short, we like the region very much. Now all we have to do is start our search for appropriate properties.

While we’re doing that you have the option of flying to Boise or not. Most investors either never go to the far away city in which they invest, or wait until they’ve closed all their purchases. We recommend the latter. Since as professionals we already know the area well, plus have the valuable backup of the local pros, a trip to Boise before buying will only serve to make you feel better, not really accomplish much. We’ll arrange for our team to give you a very comprehensive tour of the region, take you to lunch for a one on one question & answer session, then take you wherever you need to go. We’ve even had clients land in the late morning and leave at night to go back home.

Whether you go there or not, you’ll be introduced to everybody on our team — agents, inspectors, and most importantly the property manager. You’ll know them by first name before the process is finished.

We’ve arrived at the good part now. We’ve found three homes priced to fit your budget. The offers are structured to your financing requirements, and plainly spell out who pays for what, when certain things must be done, (deadlines) says how much you’re putting down, and the rest of the details involved in buying real estate. One thing we insist on is a home warranty, which comes in very handy when a heater breaks down. Most of the time we’re able to get the seller to pay for the first year.

So now we’re in escrow on three Boise houses. We’ve done the numbers backwards and forwards, and it appears it will cost you a total of about $82.5K to close them. Since they’re set up to close in 30 days, we quickly order the appraisals and the professional property inspections. We have our managers also attend the inspections with an eye towards potential tenant objections. The inspector might not care about the neon orange shag carpeting, but the manager doesn’t want to try to explain to a potential tenant why orange shag is in these days. J

When we get the inspection report back we go over it with a fine tooth comb, then list the repairs we want the seller to make at their expense, before escrow closes. The seller then agrees. But we don’t just accept that. Before the closing date we send the same inspector to the properties to ensure all the repairs were made, and made professionally. (This second inspection is also attended by our manager.)

The only thing left is loan approval, loan document signing, and closing. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Actually those three things should be very simple. In real life Murphy sometimes finds a way to entertain himself at your expense. Let’s say your escrows are smooth as silk, as most are. The loan approval comes in, which triggers the drawing of the loan docs. Once drawn, they’re usually sent to the title company/escrow who then packs it off to wherever you are going to physically sign them. (For instance, in San Diego my mom would take them to your house so you wouldn’t be inconvenienced.) J

The signed loan docs are then shipped back to escrow. Escrow then crafts a HUD-1 statement, better known as a closing statement. This will detail where every last penny went for both the buyer and the seller. Some things like rent, interest, and HOA fees will be prorated between the buyer and seller as of the closing date.

The next day your escrow closes. The escrow sends the deed to the title company for recording at the county recorder’s office. You now own three well-located Boise homes. You’ll receive an envelop from the escrow company by mail containing all the documents for your records. Since their estimated closing amount is usually over-stated, you may also receive a check for unused funds.

All you have to do now is find a nice family who wants to rent your new places, and help make your retirement what you’ve always wanted it to be.

Thanks Jeff. You make it sound seamless.

Understanding and tracking investments can be a full-time job. It’s not something that will take care of itself. That’s why we have investment advisors to help us out. Find advisors you decide are intelligent and have integrity. Never feel like you’re being asked to take an off-the-rack plan. Have your planners justify why their choices are individually suited for you.

Even when your investment is small, your advisors should believe that you are with them because they are going to make your investment grow. So it’s to their benefit to pay attention to you. If they don’t have time, do what you do on the Internet, move on to one who knows how valuable you are.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Jeff offers a free case study in the sidebar at his own blog BawldGuy Talking. Jeff also writes as a contributor at the Bloodhound Realty blog. Jeff will be attending SOBCon 07 in Chicago on May 11-12.

Related
Interview 15.2: Jeff Talks about the Two Myths that Get in Our Way
Interview 15.1: Jeff Brown, Real Estate Investment Advisor

Filed Under: Interviews, Successful Blog Tagged With: BawldGuy-Talking, bc, Bloodhound-Realty, Jeff-Brown, SOBcon-07, sobevent.com

Why SOBCon and Not That Other One?

April 11, 2007 by Liz

Conversation Means YOU Talk Too

SOBCon 07

A conversation involves more than one person talking. A conversation means you get to talk too. Research has proven the best adult learning is interactive and inquiry-based. The best ideas come when we mash up the knowledge and approaches from different fields and when we look at ideas from all points of view.

Imagine SOBCon — a room filled with web publishers, many you have met on your blog or blogs like this one.

See the SOBCon presenters. They’re all leading conversations with the audience. Conversation means you get to talk too.

Can you see it? It’s an audience of people engaged in swapping strategies, making valuable contributions, offering top-notch thinking from which you get to choose . . . Here’s just a few of the folks who will be adding value.

  • Brad, Sheila, and Marcus, who know how words make connections with readers
  • Lisa, who brings the soul of an actress and the mind of a teacher
  • Jesse, who can see how a gamer might get over a wall
  • Tony, who can diagnose a problem inside a plan
  • Dr. Wolcott, who is at the top in the field of business innovation
  • Ashley, who brings a painter’s vision and delicate hand
  • Sandra, who knows tools and techniques of visual thinking
  • Joe, who brings those grounding questions and computer expertise
  • Jeff, who understands good to great and will get there
  • Tammy, who knows the people in every part of our job and the dynamics of conversation
  • Tim and so many others, who bring the heart that calls folks to join with us
  • Steve, who is the extreme leadership that lifts us to try
  • Dawud, who brings those goals he wrote that prove we express ourselves in our business
  • Vernun, who knows how to celebrate others as part of our dream
  • Muhammed, who can’t help but provide energy and new ideas
  • Robert, who will be there with a practical eye toward what is real
  • Franke and Timothy, who know the “group think” of the situation
  • Easton, who knows how to organize and monetize without killing the grace of an idea
  • Ann and Kent, who are leaders that know presentation is as important as content
  • Troy, who thinks big and challenges everyone to take permission to do so

And add to that list people from every walk of business life — corporate innovators, public relations communicators, and the hippest new media contributors — no kidding really. I’ve seen who’s coming and they’re all on it.

Why SOBCon 07 and Not That Other One?

An entire room of experienced minds will be challenging each other to find the best ways of

  • engaging readers and connecting with customers
  • drawing people into deeper and more meaningful conversation
  • using architecture that invites people hang out around and talk longer
  • converting visitors into friends and super influencers
  • reaching out beyond the blogosphere

And of course, each person’s answer will be different.

Think about that . . . a roomful of minds all looking the same direction — toward how relationships can build a business — your blog, your business.

SOBCon 07 is more than a conference. It will be an experience — a one of a kind.

A roomful of incredible minds, ideas, and choices.

You can’t get that just anywhere.

Can you see the SOBCon difference?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Registration Link

Please, please, please be sure to book your hotel room at the promotional rate before the room block releases on Friday the 13th — the rest of the hotel is sold out.

Filed Under: SOB Business, Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, SOBcon-07, sobevent.com

Interview 15.2: Jeff Talks about the Two Myths that Get in Our Way

April 10, 2007 by Liz

Jeff, What Do You Do?

Jeff Brown pix

Yesterday Jeff Brown, real estate investment advisor, explained what he does to help people build wealth toward their retirement. One key he made was that it’s the job of a professional real estate investment advisor to ask and answer teh questions that we wouldn’t think or know to bring up about real estate investing in general or a particular transaction.

It’s also a professional advisor’s job to show us when we’re working with faulty information or hidden assumptions that are incorrect or out of date. That’s the basis for my next question.

Jeff, I’ve heard you talk about the “two myths” that prevent too many people from enjoying a work-free retirement. What are they and what’s the thinking around them?

Liz, I’ll just jump right in and start explaining what they are.

Myth #1 – I must retire with a huge savings account and a paid-off mortage on my home.

This myth is what I’ve come to call Grandpa Economics. Back in his day, few people owned their own home. The goal was to keep your nose to the grindstone, make all of your payments, and retire with a company pension and a free and clear home. That strategy worked for quite some time. The cost of living didn’t really move up much, and Grandpa’s plan served Grandpa pretty well.

Then came inflation, pensions began to disappear, and ‘qualified plans’ such as IRA’s and 401(k)’s put the burden of retirement solely on the worker’s shoulders. It was literally the end of an era. It was also the death knell for Grandpa Economics. Here’s why.

Imagine you’re approaching retirement and have managed to put almost 10 times what the average worker does in your retirement plan. That would be give or take $500K. At 8% interest, you’d receive $40K a year in income, plus the $15K or so from Social Security. That’s $55K in annual retirement income. Don’t smile so quickly.

You see, that’s before taxes. After tax that’s no more than $40K. And by the way, Uncle Sam is likely to tell you in your 70’s to begin paying back some of your principal. This will obviously shrink your $500K, which will then shrink your $40K a year. Not a happy thought.

By the way, since you paid off your home’s mortgage, you now own a 40-60 year old home demanding more maintenance than ever. We haven’t talked about health insurance premiums, replacing that 12 year old car, or just trying to live a life that includes visits to far off family.

Living that way probably isn’t the retirement that you, or Grandpa, dreamed of. Once that die is cast you’re stuck.

One way to climb out of that future is to invest in real estate. That gets your capital growth going. The earlier you do it, the more your investment can gain steam. By the time you’re ready to call it a day, it’s not uncommon to have built up an equity in seven figures. Seriously. You just have to be purposeful in your behavior, and patient with the market.

Myth #2 – I don’t have any money to invest.

I hear this myth the most — usually from folks living in a nice home in a great neighborhood. They almost always have $50-300K in untapped equity in their home. But they don’t have any cash. A business would never let money sit in equity like that, and we shouldn’t either. I help clients in just that position, take money out with a new loan so they can put it to work for them.

Often their new mortgage payments are only a little more than before, and sometimes they’ve actually been less! Really.

They take a big pile of the new loan and lay that money aside as a cash reserve account. I call that a Sominex account. The name speaks for itself — Sominex makes sleeping pills. We set up a Purposeful Plan to use the remaining money from the loan to invest in real estate they can comfortably afford. When we execute the first transaction, they officially become investors.

So you see, Liz, the two myths and Grandpa Economics come down to this.

Would you rather retire with $12,000 a month income and a $2,500 house payment? – OR $3,000 a month income with a free and clear home?

The answer to that question is the path you’ll be on for the rest of your life.

Thanks Jeff. I’m glad I asked.

Understanding and tracking investments can be a full-time job. It’s not something that will take care of itself. That’s why we have investment advisors to help us out. Find advisors you decide are intelligent and have integrity. Never feel like you’re being asked to take an off-the-rack plan. Have your planners justify why their choices are individually suited for you.

Even when your investment is small, your advisors should believe that you are with them because they are going to make your investment grow. So it’s to their benefit to pay attention to you. If they don’t have time, do what you do on the Internet, move on to one who knows how valuable you are.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Jeff offers a free case study in the sidebar at his own blog BawldGuy Talking. Jeff also writes as a contributor at the Bloodhound Realty blog. Jeff will be attending SOBCon 07 in Chicago on May 11-12.

Related
Interview 15.1: Jeff Brown, Real Estate Investment Advisor

Filed Under: Interviews, Successful Blog Tagged With: BawldGuy-Talking, bc, Bloodhound-Realty, Jeff-Brown, SOBcon-07, sobevent.com

We’re in My Living Room, Ask Me

April 9, 2007 by Liz

It’s an Outstanding Curriculum

SOBCon 07

Here is sit in front of my computer knowing that we have an incredible event to offer for the SOBCon. It’s deeper, richer — more — than any conference than I’ve ever attended. . . . The people who will be there will really be there — attending, investing, participating with their whole brains, right and left.

I worked over 20 years in curriculum. I know when the right stuff comes together.

SOBCon 07 lis going to be a unique and outstanding experience.

Imagine what every person brings to the event. We all bring so much intelligence, and every person there will be a contributing member. Wow!

So no one is looking. Got a question, go on and ask.

–Me “Liz” Strauss

Registration Link

Filed Under: Successful Blog Tagged With: ask-me, bc, SOBcon-07, sobevent.com

10 Ways Every Blogger Is an Entrepreneur

April 9, 2007 by Liz

Why I Wish My Son Grew Up Blogging

Business Rules Logo

I’ve been a publisher, worked with publishers. I’ve met publishers from all over the world — book publishers, software publishers, web publishers. Bloggers are web publishers. We do what web publishers do.

If you give that some thought something begins to become clear.

Blogs are micro businesses. Every blog, monetized or not, is an entrepreneurial publishing business.

10 Ways Every Blogger Is an Entrepreneur

Running a blog is an undergraduate course in business if you pay attention to what you are doing. From how they are built to how they are run, you can learn about entrepreneurial businesses from your blog.

  1. Great entrepreneurs often study the business they’re about to enter before they start their company. Great bloggers often learn about blogging that way too.

  2. Great entrepreneurs have a vision for what they are building. They gather data and historical statistics to keep improving based on customer behavior. Great bloggers do too.

  3. Great entrepreneurs know that their business needs to be an expression of their authentic self in action — their passion at work. Great bloggers blog their passion with transparency.

  4. Great entrepreneurs build a company that is a quality reflection of their vision down to the last detail. Great bloggers design their blogs to reflect their passion with the same care.

  5. Great entrepreneurs have great communication skills. Great bloggers do too.

  6. Great entrepreneurs know that a strong business stands on authentic relationships. Great bloggers are great at those.

  7. Great entrepreneurs realize that their business is only about choosing for their customers in what they say, what they do, how they smile, and every detail of what they offer and what they choose. Great bloggers configure their blogs to meet their customers, not the other way around.

  8. Great entrepreneurs celebrate their competition, because they know that game is won in serving the customers they love better than anyone else can. Great bloggers realize the same thing.

  9. Great entrepreneurs know that the best marketing is paying attention to the folks who already know who you are and want to help you be the best you can be — listening to your evangelists. Great bloggers are great listeners. It’s inspiring to watch them.

  10. Great entrepreneurs know that a great enterprise really belongs to the customers who helped to build it. Great bloggers might know that even better than great entrepreneurs.

What a difference it would have made if this small town girl had know half this before I started my first job in business. What a difference it would make if most businesses knew it now.

I gave my son a blog for his birthday last year.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

I’ll be talking about this very thing when I discuss our relationship to our blogs and our community at SOBCon 07. Register now! Friday is the last day the convenient rooms at the Sofitel Chicago Ohare are blocked at the supersaver rate.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Filed Under: Business Life, SOB Business, Successful Blog Tagged With: bc, Blogs, business, entreprenuers, SOBcon-07, sobevent.com

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