Buying and Selling Local Rental Properties

“If you fall, pick something up while you’re down there.” – New England proverb

It seems to me that there are two big secrets in making rental real estate work for you. One has to do with the old “location/location/location” axiom. The other is about the condition of the property you buy.

Let’s start with some rules, keeping in mind that rules are made to be followed until you understand the principles behind them.

1. Buy properties in your local area.

To be a successful investor, you have to know what you are doing. And if you have been living where you are living for any number of years, you already have more knowledge about local real estate than you think. You already have a clear idea of the good neighborhoods, the not-so-good ones, and the ones you need to stay out of. You may have developed a feeling for the up-and-comers. By staying in your local area, you give yourself the chance to really know the market. And this is the most important factor in limiting your risk and increasing your chances for profits.

2. Invest in good or up-and-coming properties.

I can tell you from experience that the old saying about the three rules of real estate being “location, location, location” is true. But there are two kinds of good locations: those that are already established as good and those that are on their way to becoming good. You can make good money with both.

Here’s how …

* In good neighborhoods, buy the least-expensive property you can find. That way, any money you spend fixing it up (if you fix it up wisely) will bring you double or triple your invested dollars. When you buy a poor piece of property in a good neighborhood, you get the benefit of the neighborhood to lift your selling price once the property looks acceptable. Of course, it’s not easy to get the least-expensive piece of property in such a good neighborhood cheap. Most of the time, the property owner realizes what’s going on. But with really dilapidated homes, and sometimes with owner-sold properties, you can get a real bargain.

A quick example: A couple of months ago, I brought a 1,200-square-foot, two-bedroom apartment in my hometown for $62,000 and rented it out for $1,000 a month. That’s a very good deal, even after considering the three grand I spent fixing it up.

* In up-and-coming neighborhoods, buy properties in clusters — either by yourself or with a consortium of buyers. That way, when you all renovate, you will upgrade the look of the area you are in — and this will bring up prices, sometimes even more than you’d guess.

* Whenever possible, buy newer, solid structures. There’s nothing worse than managing a rundown building. The tenants complain. They are reluctant to pay the rent. They treat you like a crook. It’s bad. Be extra careful about the critical and costly things. Don’t buy any property that has major problems — a bad roof, rotten plumbing, or burned-out electrical. The cost will eat up any profit you can make.

* Develop a network of reliable contractors: a plumber, an electrician, an A/C guy, a painter, a landscaper, and — most important — an inexpensive handyman.

As in so many businesses, real estate is all about buying right. If you get a property for a good price and don’t over-invest in fixing it up, you’ll be 95% certain to do well in the long run.

My own very general guideline on buying rental properties is never to buy a property if the total cost (sales price plus fix-up expenses) exceeds nine times the rent. Usually, I try to do — and do — better than that, though that’s not easy in good and up-and-coming markets, where there is a lot of sophisticated competition vying for limited properties.

Say, for example, you found a building that could be bought for $90,000. And say it would require $10,000 to bring it up to where you want it. (Where you want it is in a condition that will enable you to get a decent rent and keep your tenants from complaining because things are breaking all the time.) That’s $100,000 total.

In such a situation, following my rules, you’d want your total monthly rents to be $11,000 or more.

Say you could get $11,500. Here’s how it would look, from an investment perspective, if you paid for everything in cash: Your total investment would be $100,000, and your net cash flow, after paying property taxes (say $1,000 a year) and upkeep (say $1,500 a year), would be $9,000. That’s a 9% return on your money.

That’s a pretty good deal if you believe, as I do, that real estate is safer than stocks.

But that’s not the whole story. If you buy right and in the right location, you’ll get a very significant appreciation in the property value. This can vary widely. Historically, it’s about 4% to 5% — which would give you a total cash return of about 13% to 14%.

But that’s just the average. If you know what you are doing, you can do much better than that. A rental property I bought three years ago for $195,000 just sold for $395,000. My return on investment (ROI) was astronomical.

If you finance rental property, the ROI is sometimes even better. In a future SYTSF, I’ll tell you more about that.

But I think you understand the point. Owning rental properties — if you own good ones (which means better tenants and fewer complaints) — can be a very manageable way to make a lot of extra money on the side, while you are working for someone else or running your own business.

Of all the things I’ve done “on the side,” rental real estate has definitely been among the very best.

Piece by piece, I put together what has turned out to be a very nice collection of properties. Their rental fees have been good, and, because I never quit my day job, I’ve been able to use those rents not only to pay down my mortgages but also to buy other properties.

It has been a painless experience for the most part. And a profitable one. In what seems (in retrospect) like no time at all, I’ve acquired enough income from my real-estate rental property to retire on. That is — if I believe in retiring.

If you want to get going, you’ll need a lot more information than I’ve given you here. Fortunately, there are reams of advice about real estate at your local library and online. While you learning, go out and get to know your local market. Saturday mornings, take a walk or bike ride. Start looking at those ubiquitous home-sale catalogs. Talk to a few brokers.

Don’t buy anything this weekend. Just look around and get familiar with the your local market. Take your time. Have some fun. Acquiring a good feeling for local property values is one of those skills that only experience can teach you.$

[Do you know how Facebook and Google became the most powerful companies in the world?

It’s NOT helping you share pics of last night’s dinner...
It’s NOT searching for drunken cat videos…

And it’s DEFINITELY NOT about free Gmail accounts.
 

The simple truth is Facebook and Google SELL TRAFFIC.

They SELL TRAFFIC to business owners, and that advertising revenue alone has turned them into billion dollar companies.
 

Traffic is the most valuable commodity on the Internet, and that will never change.
 

This is why using the Traffic Authority business system is the ultimate way to make extra income in your business…

Click here to watch the video and start your own premium traffic business today!]

Can You Create Another Income Stream as a Consultant?

If you possess valuable knowledge and experience, you might be able to share it – and get paid for it – as a consultant. This could be a lucrative sideline to your current business or career. Consultants are well compensated – as much as hundreds of dollars per hour.

The word “consulting” might call to mind an image of a huge multinational firm sending teams of dozens of its staffers into Fortune 500 corporations. But many consultants have solo practices. Anyone who can help companies (or individuals) solve problems, avoid mistakes, or increase revenues deserves the title.

Companies often need expertise that isn’t available in house. For example, to handle a project for which they don’t want to hire a full-time employee. Or to offer a fresh approach to a problem.

Executives and entrepreneurs I've spoken to told me that the consultants they hire must have experience specific to the company’s needs, that they must be practitioners and not theorists, and that they must be able to supply direction and specific, useable answers.

Can you diversify into consulting? Quite possibly. Are you good at what you do, and do you have the ability and the enthusiasm to communicate your knowledge and skills?

Think about what sort of information and advice and intelligence you’re capable of offering, its value, what you could charge, how to identify prospective clients and persuade them to hire you.

Whom do you know who might be interested? Your employer? Clients? Contacts? Could you write an article or give a talk that demonstrates your expertise for an audience of qualified prospects?

Establishing your reputation, networking, and marketing are the keys to building a successful consulting practice. No one would claim that it can be achieved overnight. But I did it – and so have many others.$

[Do you know how Facebook and Google became the most powerful companies in the world?

It’s NOT helping you share pics of last night’s dinner...
It’s NOT searching for drunken cat videos…

And it’s DEFINITELY NOT about free Gmail accounts.
 

The simple truth is Facebook and Google SELL TRAFFIC.

They SELL TRAFFIC to business owners, and that advertising revenue alone has turned them into billion dollar companies.
 

Traffic is the most valuable commodity on the Internet, and that will never change.
 

This is why using the Traffic Authority business system is the ultimate way to make extra income in your business…

Click here to watch the video and start your own premium traffic business today!]

Don’t Trick Your Prospects: A Marketing Lesson From the Movies

The purpose of a great headline is to get your readers’ attention. And the purpose of the remainder of your sales letter is to get your readers to buy your product or service.

But if there is a disconnect between what the copy promises and what the product delivers, you’re going to have dissatisfied customers who feel betrayed.

Result: You end up spinning your business’s wheels, trying to constantly replenish your customer base. You’re losing them out the side door as fast as you’re bringing them in the front.

A few years ago, I read an interesting article in The New York Times about something similar that happens in the movie business. David Pogue wrote about how excited he was when he saw a trailer for the film National Treasure… but very disappointed when he saw the film and it bore little resemblance to the trailer.

Shortly after saying something to that effect in the paper, Pogue received a surprisingly candid note from the film’s director, Jon Turteltaub.

Turteltaub explained that the trailers are often put together LONG before the movie’s final edits. In fact, they’re sometimes finalized when filming is barely half complete. That means there’s a good chance for the more-than-occasional disconnect.

But that’s only the unintended consequence. Turteltaub hinted that sometimes darker forces are at work.

“For me,” said Turteltaub, “the biggest problem that comes up is when the trailers and TV spots don’t reflect the essence of the movie they are selling. You see that a LOT. The studio often feels that the movie they made isn’t a movie they can sell… so they sell it as a different movie. That can help fill seats on opening weekend, but it usually backfires. Personally, I think that’s what happened with Sweeney Todd. Perhaps they didn’t want anyone to know it was bloody, gory, and a musical. So they hid that. What happens is that the wrong audience sees the movie on opening weekend, and the word of mouth is all wrong. Great movies can get lost because of this.”

Here’s the lesson: If you find out late that your product isn’t going to appeal to your market, don’t be tempted to just put a new spin on the advertising. You’ve got to do the hard work of making the product fulfill your prospect’s needs, as you promised in your promotion.$

[Do you know how Facebook and Google became the most powerful companies in the world?

It’s NOT helping you share pics of last night’s dinner...
It’s NOT searching for drunken cat videos…

And it’s DEFINITELY NOT about free Gmail accounts.
 

The simple truth is Facebook and Google SELL TRAFFIC.

They SELL TRAFFIC to business owners, and that advertising revenue alone has turned them into billion dollar companies.
 

Traffic is the most valuable commodity on the Internet, and that will never change.
 

This is why using the Traffic Authority business system is the ultimate way to make extra income in your business…

Click here to watch the video and start your own premium traffic business today!]

Seven Years to Seven Figures: Who Makes The Big Money?

You can live very well, and even become financially independent, by earning between $100,000 and $150,000 a year. So, how do you boost your income to that level? According to a CNN/Money series titled “Who Gets Paid Six Figures?”, the best-paid workers in the U.S. are CEOs of profitable businesses. No surprise there. Top business leaders enjoy a median base salary of $528,000 (according to Salary.com.).

Next on the mega-income ladder are surgeons. Orthopedic surgeons make about $290,000, while their heart-bypassing counterparts bring in $250,000. Anesthesiologists make more than most people think, typically in the $230,000 range. Working your way up the corporate ladder to become CEO takes years and years of work, not to mention talent.

And chances are you’re not about to start on a medical career at this point in your life. But, as the CNN series pointed out, there are many other ways to earn a $100,000+ living — professions that not only are easier to get into and master but also may be more appealing to you. For example: General Merchandise Manager If you have a good deal of experience in buying retail goods and you know how to keep inventories down and merchandise flowing, you can make $100,000 or more working for a top retailer.

Hair/Makeup Artist for Advertising and Film

If you’ve mastered your trade at the salon, you may be able to jump up to this higher-paying and more glamorous calling. “As a freelance hair and makeup artist in commercial advertising,” says Jon Luca, CEO of Artist Untied (an agency representing stylists, makeup artists, and prop designers), “you can make a pretty penny if you’re good at your art. With each job you get, you build your Rolodex of photographers and your reputation among commercial directors.”

Retail Home Furnishings Consultant

You don’t need a degree in architecture or design to make a good living helping people beautify their homes. The trick is to learn what kind of decor the wealthy people in your area like and then specialize in that type of design. Make the trend your friend. Find out what’s hot, determine where you can buy it inexpensively, and set yourself up in business.

Fitting Model

If you fit perfectly into one of the standard fashion-industry sizes — plus, petite, and big-and-tall included — you can make good money working as a showroom fitting model with a clothing company or clothes designer. You don’t need perfect cheekbones to find this kind of work, but you do have to be attractive and well-groomed “The most successful fitting models,” says Susan Levine, owner of Model Service Agency, LLC, “know how different fabrics behave and are very knowledgeable about the line they’re modeling.”

Court Reporters

Top court reporters can make up to $88,000 working for the New York State Supreme Court. On top of that, they make money on transcripts. That brings their overall compensation to more than $100,000. The transcript rate in New York ranges between $2.50 and $4.30 a page. Six hours of testimony works out to about 250 pages. In terms of initial training, you’ll need between two and four years of education.

Broadcast Captioners

Broadcast captioners are the people who write the real-time subtitles on live television programs that are used by hearing-impaired and foreign-language viewers. According to Kathy DiLorenzo, director for VITAC, a captioning company, they typically earn $50 to $100 for every programing hour they caption. To make over a hundred grand a year at $50 an hour, you’d have to caption 40 hours of programs a week.

Video-Game Artist

Computerized visuals are created by artists who work in conjunction with designers, programers, engineers, and producers to create the amazing effects seen on modern video games. The job of the artist is to understand the game concept and convert it into computer art. While many have degrees, many don’t “You need to be talented before you’re educated,” says Robin McShaffry, director for Mary-Margaret.com.

Perfumer

For this highly paid profession, all you need is a good nose. Perfumers typically work for fragrance houses, developing aroma formulas for everything from perfumes and shampoos to candles and furniture polish. “Creating the right scent is 50% art and 50% science,” says Ken Lesenko, a fragrance-industry veteran at KWL Research Associates. “The science involves creating a formula that won’t taint the client’s unfragranced base in terms of viscosity or color, for instance,” Lesenko says. “The art part is like creating music.”

Then, of course, there are these lucrative careers that I routinely recommend:

Advertising Copywriter

In this position, you write the words that persuade potential customers to purchase products or services. You are essentially a salesperson — but instead of talking to just one customer at a time, you are communicating with many. Imagine how much a salesman would be worth if he could convince tens of thousands of people at one time to whip out their credit cards and BUY!

Graphic Designer

People who have a skill for graphic design and development are always in high demand. Effective graphics — in advertising and packaging — can have a huge impact on the sales of a product. The designers are compensated accordingly. Professional Travel Writer How would you like to take a first-class trip to Cancun, where you and your spouse would be wined and dined over a long weekend at a new luxury hotel? Or would you be more enticed by a rafting expedition down the Amazon in Ecuador’s rainforest? By taking up travel writing as a side business, you may not make huge money, but you will enjoy many of the perks of a millionaire lifestyle — at absolutely no cost to you. .

Resume-Writing and Career-Counseling Specialist

Statistics show that at any given time 57% of the roughly 80 million American workers are looking to change a career, go for a raise, or take on a better position. Another 5.8 million people are either on unemployment or trying to find a job for the first time. That means there are a lot of potential customers for anyone who can create effective resumes and/or provide professional career-counseling services. As a resume writer and career-counseling specialist, you could establish a part-time or full-time home business that earns you anywhere from $15,000 to $150,000 a year.

Direct-Marketing Entrepreneur

You can earn $75,000 to more than $1 million a year in your own direct-response business. What does it take to get started? I estimate somewhere between 200 and 400 hours of your time over a 12-month period — only 4 to 8 hours a week. Just stop watching TV and you’ll have all the time you need.

Professional Consultant

The old saying “Those who can’t do, teach” is a bunch of bull. In business, it’s more like “Those who want to get rich, teach.” The trick is to pick out one business skill that you are good at and become THE authority on that specialty. You can then market yourself as an expert consultant. This will not only get you out of the trenches, it will also likely double your income.

Real-Estate Investor

Get started as a part-time real-estate investor by buying and selling rental properties or by buying them and renting them out. Choose properties in a local area that you’re familiar with. Buy the least-expensive fixer-uppers in good or up-and-coming neighborhoods. Flip pre-construction properties in booming areas. You may not become the next Donald Trump, but you will quickly develop a high-dollar second stream of income.

There are dozens of additional ways to make good money — even six-figure money — in a career that excites you, allows you to work from almost anywhere, and provides you with a substantial amount of control over your future. The important thing is to know that you are not bound by your current job.

You don’t have to spend the rest of your working life answering to the same boss, dealing with the same clients, working in the same place, making the same commute, and earning what you earn now. You can make a change — a dramatic change — and, in a relatively short time, be enjoying a new and completely rewarding career.$

[Do you know how Facebook and Google became the most powerful companies in the world?

It’s NOT helping you share pics of last night’s dinner...
It’s NOT searching for drunken cat videos…

And it’s DEFINITELY NOT about free Gmail accounts.
 

The simple truth is Facebook and Google SELL TRAFFIC.

They SELL TRAFFIC to business owners, and that advertising revenue alone has turned them into billion dollar companies.
 

Traffic is the most valuable commodity on the Internet, and that will never change.
 

This is why using the Traffic Authority business system is the ultimate way to make extra income in your business…

Click here to watch the video and start your own premium traffic business today!]

How to Stay Motivated About Achieving Your Long-Term Goals

 

“The highest reward for a man’s toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes.” – John Ruskin

Your most important goals — becoming rich, famous, etc. — can take time to accomplish. Sometimes years and years. How do you stick with them? How do you avoid distractions? How do you keep yourself from losing interest?

There’s only one answer to all these questions: Learn to love the process.

The process is what you engage in while you are on your way. It consists of the steps you take on your journey. It includes the little breakthroughs, the small triumphs, and the pleasure of overcoming adversity.

I do that by breaking all my long-term goals into shorter-term objectives. I’ve broken down all my lifetime goals into five-year objectives, then into yearly, monthly, and weekly objectives, and finally into daily tasks.

Each completed effort is something I feel good about. Often, I reward myself with small psychological prizes. Usually, the reward is simply the gratification I feel when I check the task off my task list. Sometimes, I reward myself with a monetary reward — a hundred dollars here, a thousand dollars there.

Let’s say you want to save a certain sum of money every month but find you don’t get any pleasure out of doing it. In that case, what you could do is pay yourself off each time you achieve that goal … perhaps with a small sum of “fun” money that you can spend any way you want to.

If, for example, your savings goal is $3,000 a month, you might give yourself a $100 bonus. The money might go to buy a nice dinner or to pay for some toy — almost anything, so long as it feels like an “extra.”

I like to give myself a cash bonus. There’s something tangible about a $20 bill that I am still very fond of. I usually spend that reward on music downloads.

Think about a long-term goal you might apply this idea to. Make deciding what the reward should be part of the enjoyment.

Hint: It’s sometimes fun to let someone else — a partner, your spouse, or even your assistant — award the bonus. That way, it feels more like a pleasant surprise.$

[Do you know how Facebook and Google became the most powerful companies in the world?

It’s NOT helping you share pics of last night’s dinner...
It’s NOT searching for drunken cat videos…

And it’s DEFINITELY NOT about free Gmail accounts.
 

The simple truth is Facebook and Google SELL TRAFFIC.

They SELL TRAFFIC to business owners, and that advertising revenue alone has turned them into billion dollar companies.
 

Traffic is the most valuable commodity on the Internet, and that will never change.
 

This is why using the Traffic Authority business system is the ultimate way to make extra income in your business…

Click here to watch the video and start your own premium traffic business today!]

When Are You Going to Start? Tomorrow? Next Week?

“Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.” – Don Marquis

If you asked me what the most common reason for failure is, I’d say procrastination.

Most of us know this. Yet, we often fail to recognize how often we make this mistake. Because we are busy with the everyday pressures of making a living and having a family, we feel it is only sensible to delay new projects until we have time “to do them well.”

As you can guess, I spend a lot of my professional and even my personal time encouraging people to carry out their ambitions. Almost every day, I am in a discussion with someone who tells me that she wants to accomplish something but admits that she hasn’t begun doing anything about it.

“I’m planning to get started as soon as I finish my master’s degree.”

Or …

“I’m going to begin next month, after I’ve finished filing my taxes.”

Or …

“I’m really eager to get started. First thing Monday morning …”

Procrastination is expressed in many ways and has many reasons, but it all means one thing: “I don’t want to start now.”

I have a 24-hour rule when it comes to getting things done. Whenever I come to the conclusion that I “have to” do something, I give myself 24 hours to take at least the first step toward getting it done.

I write it down on my daily task list. It’s highlighted in yellow. If it isn’t crossed out by the end of the day as “done,” I cancel all appointments for the following day and commit to doing nothing else.

I don’t take phone calls. I don’t read e-mail. I don’t allow people to come into my office for emergency visits. I come in early — extra early — and do nothing else but work on it.

Since I’ve been using this radical approach, I’ve been able to dramatically increase my personal productivity — and particularly in terms of goals that I have traditionally put off and put off.

By not allowing myself to procrastinate, I am doing many things I’ve always wanted to. I am healthier, wealthier, and wiser — and I wasn’t doing so badly to begin with.

Sometimes (and this honestly doesn’t happen too often), I get to my 24-hour deadline with nothing done — despite having set aside the time to get started. In those rare cases, I admit to myself that I’m emotionally incapable of accomplishing that goal. So I pull it off my list either permanently or for six months or a year, whatever feels right.

If you are putting off doing something important, it’s almost certainly because of fear. It helps to identify what exactly you are afraid of. Ask yourself, is it a fear of …

* failing?

* working hard?

* facing your ignorance?

Or could it be a fear of succeeding? I believe that some people procrastinate because they are actually content with their lives as they are and don’t really want them to change. They say they want to accomplish this or that because it seems like the right thing to do, but, in their heart of hearts, they actually don’t want anything to change (as it would if they succeeded).

I don’t know why my buddy is putting off doing his Jiu Jitsu, but I think he needs to figure out what he’s afraid of. If he can do that, we can have a productive conversation about it. We can figure out if his fear is founded and, if it is, how it can be overcome.

Take notice of the deadlines you are setting for yourself. If they are more than 24 hours away, beware. You just may be fooling yourself.$

[Do you know how Facebook and Google became the most powerful companies in the world?

It’s NOT helping you share pics of last night’s dinner...
It’s NOT searching for drunken cat videos…

And it’s DEFINITELY NOT about free Gmail accounts.
 

The simple truth is Facebook and Google SELL TRAFFIC.

They SELL TRAFFIC to business owners, and that advertising revenue alone has turned them into billion dollar companies.
 

Traffic is the most valuable commodity on the Internet, and that will never change.
 

This is why using the Traffic Authority business system is the ultimate way to make extra income in your business…

Click here to watch the video and start your own premium traffic business today!]

Develop Your Advertising Like A Blockbuster Movie

“Less is more.” – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

If you want to come up with breakthrough advertising ideas, it can help to practice a technique filmmakers use to develop blockbuster movies. The technique — which is applied to the movie’s essential idea — is called “high concept.” A movie has a high concept when its core idea is intriguing, powerful, and easy to understand.

Example: An asteroid the size of Texas is hurtling toward earth. “That’s high concept,” says James Bonnet, writing for The Writers Store e-zine. “Everyone knows exactly what that means. It arouses an emotional response, and, in just 10 words, everyone knows what the movie is about.”

The same thing could be said of a really good advertising campaign. It is built around a single, strong idea, one that is exciting, intriguing, and easy to understand.

Some copywriters and creative agencies prefer advertising that is more complex. For them, promotional ideas should be smart and eccentric or perhaps brilliant and unconventional. The thought that one of their campaigns could (or should) be reduced to a catchy phrase is disgraceful.

Yet, most of the best advertising is simple — and for a very good reason. For advertising to click, it has to appeal to what people are ALREADY thinking and feeling. The great advertising campaigns are those that “tip” a pre-existing social demand. This is true of all sorts of advertising — commercial, political, and cultural. Consider these cultural successes of the recent past:

* Power to the people!

* To each according to his needs; from each according to his ability.

* All you need is love.

The purpose of advertising is to stimulate buying — usually as much as possible in a given market. To create a flurry of interest in something, you have to say something that is easily understood. Yes, it has to be strong. Yes, it has to be intriguing. But most of all, it has to be understood.

When messages are simple, they travel fast. When they are complex, they get clogged up in the communications channel.

Back to the movie business …

Here’s how James Bonnet explains the way a typical high concept makes its way to the light:

“For example — in the ’70s, there was a very popular 90-minute TV show called ‘MacMillan and Wife,’ which starred Rock Hudson and Susan St. James. Steven Bochco, whom you’ve no doubt heard of because of shows like ‘NYPD Blue,’ was the story editor. Julie Epstein introduced me to Leonard Stern, the executive producer, who referred me to Bochco, who had never seen my work and had no idea what I could do. We had a meeting and discussed a couple of ideas, but nothing happened.

“Then one day, while I was in my kitchen making some coffee, a thought popped into my head — and on an impulse, I called Bochco.

“‘What’ve you got?’ he asked, after the usual amenities.

“‘Susan gets lost in the Bermuda Triangle.’

“‘I love it,’ he said. ‘I’ll get back to you.’

“Ten minutes later, he called me back and said: ‘I hope you can write. You’ve got a deal.’

“Now, as it turned out, Bochco had called the producer, who loved it and told Bochco to call their contact at NBC. Bochco called the contact, the contact called his superior and pitched it to him. Then the contact called Bochco back, and Bochco called me. All within less than 10 minutes. It was the highest-paying show on television, and at that moment ‘Susan gets lost in the Bermuda Triangle’ was the sum total of what I knew about that story idea.”

That’s what you want to happen with your advertising campaign. You want it to be instantly liked and passed on. To be instantly liked, something must be instantly understood. Ask yourself: “What is the high concept of my advertising campaign? Is it instantly intriguing? Instantly attractive? Instantly understandable?”

If it isn’t all of those things, you might want to test something that is truly high concept.

[Do you know how Facebook and Google became the most powerful companies in the world?

It’s NOT helping you share pics of last night’s dinner...
It’s NOT searching for drunken cat videos…

And it’s DEFINITELY NOT about free Gmail accounts.
 

The simple truth is Facebook and Google SELL TRAFFIC.

They SELL TRAFFIC to business owners, and that advertising revenue alone has turned them into billion dollar companies.
 

Traffic is the most valuable commodity on the Internet, and that will never change.
 

This is why using the Traffic Authority business system is the ultimate way to make extra income in your business…

Click here to watch the video and start your own premium traffic business today!]

How an LLC Can Stop Lawsuits and Creditors Dead in Their Tracks

“Avoid lawsuits beyond all things; they pervert your conscience, impair your health, and dissipate your property.” – Jean de la Bruyere

As I explained previously, you may want to consider establishing a business entity like a corporation or a limited liability company (LLC) if you’re a real estate investor, an independent contractor, or a small-business owner. These entities can help make your business less risky and more financially rewarding.

Corporations (S Corps. and C Corps.) typically provide good protection against “traditional liabilities.” In other words, if your business is sued for something related to its business activities, a properly set up and maintained corporation should protect the owners from personal liability.

Yet most attorneys will tell you that a multi-member LLC will usually provide enhanced benefits – for two important reasons:

1. Fewer opportunities for error.

A corporation is more complicated than the LLC. For one thing, it must hold annual meetings. State law also requires it to abide by a number of rules that create a “forced” three-level management structure. This means all operations must be channeled through directors, officers, and shareholders. In a small- to mid-sized business, the same person or handful of people must occupy all of these positions – which can create confusion and increased opportunities for error.

On the other hand, state law does not force such a complex management structure upon the LLC. And, though it’s a good idea to hold an annual LLC meeting, it’s not a legal requirement. You probably won’t lose your protection if you forget to have one. This means fewer technicalities to deal with, less confusion, and fewer potential mistakes for an attorney to use against you when trying to “pierce” your business entity to hold you personally liable.

2. Greater protection against creditors.

Perhaps the main reason an LLC is favored in most situations is that it will not only protect you from your business’s liabilities… it can also protect your business from your personal liabilities.

Let’s say you are driving your family to the park on a Sunday afternoon. Along the way, your car “taps” someone who is crossing the street and he is slightly injured. The injured person finds a personal injury attorney who tries to milk the case for every penny. They sue you for $1,000,000… and win. Your insurance only pays out $500,000, so you still owe $500,000.

What happens next? The answer depends on whether you have a corporation or an LLC.

What usually happens in a case like this is that the attorney passes the case on to a collections specialist – an aggressive attorney who really knows the ropes. He can, for example, go to the judge and request a Writ of Execution. With this writ, a creditor may visit your residence or office (with the local sheriff) and begin seizing your personal assets.

If you have a corporation, he may also be able to seize up to 100 percent of your corporate stock shares… because your corporate stock shares are considered personal property. If the creditor gains control of your company by seizing enough of your shares, he can then vote to dissolve the corporation. Assets in the corporation would then be distributed to you (and your co-owners) personally. And then the creditor could grab those assets up to the $500,000 you still owe him.

But this can’t happen if you have an LLC – because the laws of all states (except Pennsylvania and Nebraska) have included special rules that allow LLCs to be protected in a situation such as this.

The creditor would generally not be able to gain control of your LLC. He also could not vote to end it, nor force a distribution of assets. He would be limited to a “charging order.”

A charging order is an order granted by a judge that says any money passed on to a business owner by the business must first go to the creditor… until the debt is paid off. BUT, the creditor does not have the right to force an LLC to make this payment. So he could wait a very long time for any such payment – especially if the people running the LLC are sympathetic to your situation. They could choose to stop distributions made to you altogether.

What’s more, once the creditor gets the charging order, he may even have to pay taxes on money the LLC made but which was not distributed to you.

Let’s say you’re a 50 percent owner of an LLC that makes $1 million in profits and the managers decide not to distribute any of those profits to you. The creditor can’t seize your $500,000 share of the profits, because it wasn’t distributed… but he could be forced by the IRS to recognize it as “phantom income” and find himself with a tax bill in the neighborhood of $150,000 or more.

Establishing your business as an LLC can almost act as a “poison pill” against questionable lawsuits, and it can put you in a much better negotiating position if you’re ever sued. The prospect of getting a big tax bill without any cash could spur the other party to settle the judgment debt or just drop his collection efforts. At the very least, it will help keep your business intact.$

[Do you know how Facebook and Google became the most powerful companies in the world?

It’s NOT helping you share pics of last night’s dinner...
It’s NOT searching for drunken cat videos…

And it’s DEFINITELY NOT about free Gmail accounts.
 

The simple truth is Facebook and Google SELL TRAFFIC.

They SELL TRAFFIC to business owners, and that advertising revenue alone has turned them into billion dollar companies.
 

Traffic is the most valuable commodity on the Internet, and that will never change.
 

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Real Estate Investing: Comps May Dictate Your Success As An Investor

Where you find your information and how you use it will go a long way in determining your success on a given property. If you are looking for a quick flip, your price will be determined by the comps you use. In fact, almost everything you do from that point will be reliant on the comps you use. Local properties will shape everything from your price to your renovation projects. By relying on old or inaccurate information, it will result in a lower price and less money in your pocket. Properties you are comparing the subject property to are the ones that buyers and realtors will be using. Just make sure they are the right ones. Using the appropriate comps in your area is absolutely critical to your success as an investor.

There are many instances where overzealous investors have unrealistic expectations for their properties. They may have seen a similar house in the area sell and automatically think they can get the same amount. Unless you know everything about that property, you are setting yourself up to fail. Start by looking at properties that have sold within a one mile radius of your house. Anything farther out than one mile can’t be considered a good comp. After you have your list of properties, you can start to go to work.

Look at the style, size, location and amenities of each property. The more differences, the less likely that a buyer will use that as a comparable. Even though you may give value to a pool, deck or fireplace, it does not mean that they will. Sure, some value must be given, but you need to be careful in placing a firm price on any one of those items. The only items that should guarantee value are living space (square footage) and bedrooms.

The best place to find sales and pending sales properties are through the MLS. If you are not a realtor, you will not have access to it. This is where having a license comes in handy. It is a bit of an effort to find comps, but this is the main part of their jobs. They should be able to provide you with sales for the last six months in your area. Listen to their advice and suggestions on what they think they can list the home for after you are done with your work. Don’t ignore their suggestions just because you think the quality of work will be nicer or you like the location better. Your realtor knows the market better than you and will know what a realistic value is.

Look through each comp and see if any deductions were made for a buyer paying cash or for a foreclosure sale. This is important information that you could use to increase your price. You can look at internet valuation sites as a starting point, but if you want to dig a little deeper, you will read the actual listing sheets. This is what they are there for and need to be used even if you think you have a good idea on the area.

Money is made in real estate either on the buy side or when you sell. If you do decide to sell, you need as much information as possible to make your decision. It is not enough to have information, but you need to look at the right information. With the help of your realtor, you should know as much about the property and the area as possible. Use this data to get the maximum return when it is time to sell.$

[Do you know how Facebook and Google became the most powerful companies in the world?

It’s NOT helping you share pics of last night’s dinner...
It’s NOT searching for drunken cat videos…

And it’s DEFINITELY NOT about free Gmail accounts.
 

The simple truth is Facebook and Google SELL TRAFFIC.

They SELL TRAFFIC to business owners, and that advertising revenue alone has turned them into billion dollar companies.
 

Traffic is the most valuable commodity on the Internet, and that will never change.
 

This is why using the Traffic Authority business system is the ultimate way to make extra income in your business…

Click here to watch the video and start your own premium traffic business today!]