Ann Arbor Home Buying Seminar - Dispelling the Myths

When: 6:30 pm, Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008
Where: United Bank and Trust, 355 S. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48103
Cost: Free
Web: http://annarbortalks.com/2008/07/21/ann-arbor-home-buying-seminar-dispelling-the-myths/

Note: This is for those with little to know real estate buying experience. This is pretty basic but it is good information that every investor should know.

Top 15 Reasons to Attend This Free Workshop - What You’ll Learn

• Why you should never fall into the trap of working with the name on the For Sale sign.
• 3 Ways homebuyers surrender their power to negotiate a better price.
• Negotiate $10,000 savings on any home you buy.
• How to keep your confidential financial information from landing in the Seller’s hands.
• How to avoid paying hidden “junk fees” that add thousands to the cost of a loan.
• How credit scores are determined, how they can affect your mortgage rate and increase the cost of your loan by thousands.
• How to build a team of buyer – friendly experts that will be on your side, and not the seller’s.
• Why it’s illegal for an ordinary real estate agent to recommend a home inspector, and the important reason why only Buyer Agents are legally allowed to do so.
• 10 critical mistakes made by virtually all homebuyers.
• The single most common, money-draining mistake most homebuyers make when choosing an agent.
• The 3 scare tactics that mortgage lenders use to stop you from shopping for the best loan.
• Low and no-money down loans and special grant programs available right here.
• Legal Pitfalls: 50 ways to lose your property.
• The two phrases that must be included in every Offer to Purchase real estate.
• How to get the widest selection of homes, including access to very motivated sellers and For Sale By Owner properties.
• How to save $5,000 or get $500 Cash Back at closing Guaranteed.

When: Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008
Time: Pre-Approval at 6:30 p.m. - Seminar Begins at 7:00 p.m.
Where: United Bank and Trust
355 S. Zeeb Rd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
RSVP: 734-216-2172 or Click here to fill out the form and we will be in touch with you shortly!


Jeff Miller
Real Estate Seminar List
Investment Musings

There are so many teleseminars out there that I've been reluctant to post them here. However, I will begin posting them as an experiment. Please let me know what you think of the teleseminars.

Online Real Estate Success Teleseminar

Learn the skills you need to generate leads today

Thursday, March 20th at 2:00pm Pacific

http://www.onlinerealestatesuccess.com/teleseminar/

Los Angeles Land Auction

You won't learn anything here but if you want to buy some land, here's a place to go:

Land Auction #164 ( Catalog L-164)
Gigantic Land Auction - 200 Properties To Be Sold

WHEN: Sunday, February 17, 2008

WHERE:Sheraton Universal, 333 Universal Hollywood Drive, Universal City, California, USA 91608 / Sheraton Universal

TIME: Registration begins at 8:30 AM. Auction starts promptly at 9:30 AM.

What You Should Get Out of a Seminar

There are only three things that you can get from a seminar: why, what and how.

These are the same things you can get from any learning tool, be it a book, a seminar, or a school course. All three are necessary for learning but the most useful is the how.

This is how I define each of those words, with regard to seminars:

Why: why are you in this seminar, why you should pick this seminar over others, why invest in [fill in the blank]. This is the motivator. It is both the sales pitch for whatever product they are selling (if you don't know that they are selling a product, you haven't been paying attention) and it is a call to pay attention and learn something. If you don't have a strong why, you'll never succeed. If you don't have a strong why, then why bother? Also, if you don't know what you want to do, the why can let you know if the topic is for you or not.

The Why question is necessary and the first question that needs to be answered in a seminar but it is also the most trivial. If this is all you get out of a seminar, it better be a free seminar. Even if it is a free seminar, if you don't get more than this, you are in for a long ride, generally paying for ever more expensive levels hoping to get some useful information eventually.

What: This is where they tell you what you should do. This will be things like: buy zero down, buy low and sell high, buy foreclosures, buy probate property, buy/sell on eBay, etc. These are the strategies. You need to pick a strategy so you can focus your efforts to accomplish your goal.

A number of presenters will act as if they are giving real information here but it is not as helpful as they make it seem. These are the fortune cookie answers. Yes, I should buy low and sell high, now what. This kind of information can be deceiving. There are multiple levels of "What" and some seminar chains just give more detailed levels of "What" as you pay for more expensive levels of seminar. If you don't get some "What" in even a free seminar, stay away. If you payed more than $1000, don't be satisfied with "What."

Don't get me wrong, you can learn a lot from these seminars but you will have to a lot of homework and figure out a lot on your own. That brings me to:

How: This is where they get into the details of how to implement the strategy. It is where they show you how to go to the courthouse and what information to look for, what signs to put in front of your house, what ads to place and when you should place them. This is what you are going to the seminar for. The main question is how many levels of seminar you'll have to go through to get this.

If you get some of the "How" at a free seminar, you will generally get more at the next levels. The difference will be between being able to accomplish the task at all and being able to excel at it.

Some presenters have a variation of this: They give the "What" and sell a utility or service that takes care of the "How." This can be useful but it isn't as good as getting the "How" and getting the utility. If the market changes and you know the Why, What, and How, you can make adjustments to fit the new market. If you just know the Why and What with a utility to take care of the How and the market changes, you will then have a useless utility.

Don't expect a presenter to give away all their secrets at a free or low cost seminar. However, you can use what they tell you at the free seminar to predict their behavior at later seminars.

Larry Goins - Ultimate Buying & Selling Machine Boot Camp

September 14th & 15th (Fri. & Sat.) is the next date for the Larry Goins, Ultimate Buying & Selling Machine Boot Camp in Charlotte NC & there’s ONLY 33 SEATS LEFT!

If you have been wanting to attend this is the PERFECT OPPORTUNITY!

These last 33 seats will go extremely quickly so clear your calendar for September 14th & 15th and reserve your seat RIGHT NOW!! We have also secured a special group rate at the hotel of only $89 per night but those are limited so ..... the EARLY BIRD gets the WORM!

Real Estate Connect New York 2008, January 9-11, 2008

Real Estate Connect NYC is the residential industry’s premier event where leaders of real estate, technology, mortgage and finance, convene to set the agenda for the coming year, make deals and network. Some 1200+ executives, decision makers, opinion leaders, leading brokers, mega-agents, trendsetters, press, analysts and investors from the Eastern U.S., nationwide and across the globe will gather at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square January 9-11, 2008. Join the brightest minds in the business and have a great time in one of the world’s greatest cities—the Big Apple.

It's at: Marriott Marquis Times Square in New York City, NY

You can find their site at: http://www.realestateconnect.com/

As of this post, you can register but there isn't any more information about the event. I expect they'll be posting more info as we get closter to the event

How to Pick a Realtor

I was reading Aiming for Independence and the author has a post about buying real estate. He has a couple of paragraphs about picking a realtor that appears to be written for the non investor. I thought that I'd pick up off of that and expand on what he wrote. My purpose here is to show how to pick a realtor who will be a good partner for a real estate investor.

The first thing to think about when looking for a realtor is: do you need a realtor?

If you are totally new, then in the short run a great realtor will be less expensive than a real estate seminar. However, a bad or just average realtor will end up costing you a lot of money.

If you are experienced, a realtor can sometimes be helpful but is not a necessity. My general rule of thumb is: if it is listed, I bring in a realtor. If it is listed, a commission is being paid. Why not give someone a piece of that commission for representing your interest? Also, a realtor can be helpful if you are investing in an area that you are not familiar with (not a recommended strategy, by the way).

One place I like to look for realtors in an area is at real estate investment clubs. The realtors that attend those understand real estate investing. Also you can get referrals from other investors. The last thing you need is a realtor who only knows how to fill out the standard form.

Another place is to look through the free real estate magazines that are often available at stores. If you don't have access to those, look at the real estate section of the local news paper. Look for someone who is listing a lot of the type of property you want to buy. If they are listing a lot of that property, they probably have some expertise in that area.

Luxury Homes Real Estate Training

Marco Kozlowski has the luxury homes market down pat.

He has all the tools and partners you need to buy and sell luxury homes.

His next seminar is on August 27 28 29 30 in Las Vegas, NV.

This bootcamp is pretty good for beginners. He lines it all out for you. One of the key features about this is that he doesn't just teach you how to find and how to sell luxury homes. He teaches you how to set up a business for buying and selling luxury homes. He even goes into employee hiring and management so you can spend more time doing what makes you money. If you are just starting out, this will show you how to set yourself up right. If you are already a real estate invester, this section will help you get out of your own way.

You might be able to pull a deal together in the first month but it usually takes longer to get all your tools set up and in place. It can also take a while to actually pull a deal together but that doesn't mean that you won't make some money on the way. One of the things that Marco focuses on is how to make little bits of money on each step. This way, even if a deal falls through, you make enough money to keep the lights on.

The good thing is that he sends you enough information to get started and get some potential deals before the bootcamp. If you have at least three weeks before the bootcamp and you have $100-$100 to spend on marketing, you can come to the bootcamp with 4-10 potential deals. At the bootcamp, he has people bring up their deal and he would call the seller and help them close the deal. This seminar isn't a bunch of "this is what worked for me 10 years ago." He gets up there with you and your potiential deal and works it right there.

Also, the course is always changing. There are things in his seminars now that weren't there when I took it and things that he's removed because they don't work any more (or don't work as well as something new).

You can contact them to get the specific details HERE.

Marco also has a weekly conference call in which he or his assistant answer questions and help you do some prep for the bootcamp.

After the bootcamp, you have access to a different set of calls in which he keeps people informed about the new stuff that he's adding to the bootcamp and answers specific questions.

New Seminar On Calendar

Todd Dotson has two Tactical Real Estate Bootcamps coming up.

One is on September 26-30 in Arlington, TX and the other is in November (dates TBD) in Anaheim, CA.

This bootcamp is very good for beginners and for those who have been in the field for a while but don't think they are doing as well as they should.

You can contact them to get the specific details HERE.

Todd also has a weekly conference call in which he or his assistant answer questions.

Why create a Seminar List?

4 years ago, when I decided to become a real estate investor, I had some general knowlege (I'd worked for a hard money lender for 13 years) but no specific training. So I went to a lot of seminars starting in late 2003 through 2004. In order to learn what I need to get started.

I went to seminars on just about every field of real estate investing to find what was right for me. Eventually I did, geting into 4-plexes in 2004 as a wage replacement.

I still go to a few each year because the market keeps changing and what was a good investement in 2004 no longer works.

Where I have specific knowlege about a specific seminar or a specific speaker (if my knowlege is old, I can talk about the speaker's abilities and character but the seminar info will, hopefully, have changed.

My next posts will be about what kinds of seminars there are and what to expect from a seminar in general.