Why You Should Care

Number one: There is no better way to determine what the history of a property is than by utilizing a combination of online tools available.  One would be your online recorder of deeds information (if it is available), and two, access to your local multiple listing service.  If you don’t have that, then find a way to get it.  Have a spouse, sibling, etc get their license and get access…or you yourself.  In my opinion, the pluses of having your license (or somebody you know) outweight not having it.

You can see what people bought the property for, what it sold for before, how much they owe, how many mortgages there are, whether there are property line encroachments, whether there are liens and jugements which would prevent the sell of the property, etc, etc.

Convinced yet?  Get your free Researching Titles Guidebook here.

Number Two: Do you know how to spot fraud?  I do.  Matter of fact,  a large local investor committed fraud in his rehabbing/wholesaling business.  How did I know before he fled the country?…it was ALL public knowledge and I researched him out like crazy and knew he was running a ponzi scheme.

Number Three: Checking in on your Title Companies.  You may think to yourself…awww…shucks, I don’t need to follow up on my attorney, or my closing companies.  YES, you do, for YOUR benefit.  Believe me, there are bad attorneys and title companies out there scheming this second as to how they can walk away with some of your money.  NO, that is not the majority.  Matter of fact, it is probably a very small percentage, but they are out there.  OR, maybe they are 1 lease payment away from going out of business, and you don’t know that beforehand.  Better to protect, than neglect.

I’ll say this, there have been several instances of title companies doing closings over the last several years that have done things to hurt or cripple investors.  Maybe they told you that you were getting title insurance, but you never really did.  Maybe they never recorded your deed, and now you are out of luck and have to jump through 10 hoops to get one.  Maybe they never filed the satisfaction of mortgage for the private money loan you had on a house you bought, and again, now you or they have to do the leg work.  Maybe you even need to provide proof of your payment and complete a Quiet Title Action in court.  You just never know.  However, I do know I would rather know that my deeds are being recorded, and satisfactions are being filed than to find out after something may cost me $50,000 or $500,000.

So, the choice is yours…but I can tell you there are about 3 or 4 UNDERGROUND skill sets that I have as a professional investor that are invaluable, and THIS is one of them.

Convinced yet?  Get your FREE Researching Titles Guidebook NOW, before I say, I told you so.

I even had a client pay me $200 for a private 3 hour session to show him how to do this and he was just telling me a week ago that it was the best money he has EVER spent.  He learned so much from it that he couldn’t put into words.

FURTHERMORE, you have the INSIDE track to working preforeclosure deals that most people don’t even know exist.  It opens up an ENTIRE new area of marketing for you.  Just wait and see and then come back right here to this post and thank me.

Your Protector of Money,

Brandon Yeager

RESEARCHING TITLES

Have fun with it!

Brandon Yeager

Do yourself a favor and check it out.  If you have ever wanted to learn about buying Owner Financed Homes, now is the time.  There has never been more homes flooding the markets, causing even sellers with tons of equity to take drastic measures in order to sell their inventory.

Take care,

Brandon

You can access it directly right now by CLICKING HERE.
Or watch this video for a tour first…

First, the pain from last Friday’s surgery is slowly wearing off.  I’m off the hard pain killers completely.  Only taking Ibuprofen and 2 aspirin per day (to prevent clots).    It’s really kind of funny…but I’ve had a lot of “revelations” while being laid up.  No, not Biblical Revelations…personal reflections moreso.

Deeper Reflections…

I’ve decided I haven’t been giving enough….and that is about to change.  You see, I think one of the biggest things in my life is that I don’t want to be a number.  I want to be a unique person who has helped shape and change peoples lives.  Do I feel I can do that ?  Yeah.  Why ?  Because of what I’ve been able to with my investing and what I’ve been accomplishing online.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not proclaiming any type of greatness whatsoever.  As a matter of fact, the more I learn everyday, the more I see I need to learn. 

What is In Store For You ?

2 Things.  First, You are going to find me offering a lot of free stuff on this site.  I will be offering upgrades as well, if you’d like, but the free content will be nothing short of AWESOME.  My deepest, darkest investing secrets exposed for all to see.

Second, I’m going to share what I’ve been learning online, and in regards to how that has the ability to translate to profits for you, if you desire, at a new blog I’m going to be starting….You can Check out BrandonBurgh.com here.  I’ll be talking about what some of my strengths in regards to Internet Marketing have turned out to be.

So, I’m here to serve you.  That’s it.  Nothing more.  You will be seeing more video from me, since I love to shoot video rather than type.  The biggest downfall with that is indexing and providing quality content to site, but hopefully that will arise out of comments that you, my readers leave.  So, feel free, leave a comment.

Happy Investing, Your friend,

Brandon Yeager

It appears that my achilles tendon tear was atypical according to the doctor. He said normally the tendon breaks down close the heel and breaks tendon to tendon. Mine actually tore from the muscle at the top, so it was a tendon muscle tear. I don’t know if that is good or bad, but, anyway.

I am in a splint right now. He said I would have a splint for 7-10 days after surgery, and then I would be in a cast for 6 weeks. Then, I will be in a walking boot for about 6-8 weeks. Ahhh, so, I’m sitting here trying to decide what to do first and in what order for all of you.

I’ll keep you posted,
Brandon

For your edification…you can get more info on the test I failed here:

Thompson Test

I’ll keep you posted how all is going.

Brandon

Flashback

When I first started out landlording, I’d get a call from a prospective tenant, and inevitably, they would ask:
“can you tell me about the apartment (or house, etc)”

I used to go into a long, drawn out, detailed, explanation of everything about the apartment, trying to sell the apartment.

Nowadays, I tell them how much it costs, and then ask them…”is that in the price range you were looking for, or were you looking for something a little less ?” If they are calling from the yard sign, and just dialed me up, and that is not in their budget…I just saved myself 5 or 10 minutes.

Don’t accept Pets, Nip it in the Bud Quickly…

I also cut to the pet topic right away. No dogs ? Tell them right up front, and then ask them, is that a problem ? It is better than waiting until they have told you their entire personal crisis story and how they need a place to live right now, and 20 minutes later, you find out they own 3 dobermans and 5 cats. “Is that a problem?”, they ask ????

Flip Side

On the flip side, suppose somebody is calling you to sell their home. Probably 1/2 the time the phone call comes in, the seller begins telling you about every lovely detail from roof to basement about the property. Do not let them sell you on the property for 15 minutes, before you ask the questions that YOU need answered. You do not really care about the hand-cut crown moulding grandpa put in 8 years ago, before his poodle died, and he had to move to Florida.

Do not get me wrong, listen and empathize with them…for about 60 seconds, and then cut to the chase. It is YOUR TIME they are probably hijacking.

Another Favorite of Mine

I oftentimes get calls from home sellers that start with “Can you tell me about how you guys work ?”, or “Can you tell me about how your program works”.

I DO NOT even consider it for 1 second, HOWEVER, I used to. I used to tell them for 5 minutes about how I generally work, etc, etc.

Now, I say: “Well, why don’t you start by giving me your name and the best phone number to reach you at, in case we get disconnected”. They will not even hesitate, provide you their info, and then you move right into asking THEM questions…not the other way around.

These are all things that come with time and experience. Believe me, it only takes wasting a Gazillion hours on people, and them squandering your time away, before you too will realize the Time Vampires that are sucking you life right out of you.

Great, Brandon…Now What?

Well, here is exactly what I would recommend. You know in your heart and soul, probably 90% of all the calls you get from home sellers will start out with 1 of 10 different questions. Write them, down, and then write you own flanking responses to their questions and positions, etc.
Now, do the same for when a tenant calls. What are the 10 most common ways that your conversations start. Write down you 10 best flanking responses to get through those.
If you do JUST those items, every time it happens, depending upon how many calls you get per month, you can literally add DAYS to year.

http://www.ProsperityPitstop.com and get started today!

Take care,

Brandon Yeager

Check it out:

original link:

43% have less than $10k for retirement

By Chavon Sutton, staff reporterMarch 9, 2010: 8:21 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The percentage of American workers with virtually no retirement savings grew for the third straight year, according to a survey released Tuesday.

The percentage of workers who said they have less than $10,000 in savings grew to 43% in 2010, from 39% in 2009, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s annual Retirement Confidence Survey. That excludes the value of primary homes and defined-benefit pension plans.

Workers who said they had less than $1,000 jumped to 27%, from 20% in 2009.

Confidence in ability to save enough for a comfortable retirement hovered at 16% of respondents, the second lowest point in the 20-year history of the survey.

“Americans’ attitudes toward retirement have clearly tracked the economy the last couple of years, and that seems to be the case in 2010,” said Jack VanDerhei, EBRI’s research director and co-author of the survey, in a statement.

The percentage of workers who said they have saved for retirement fell to 69%, from 75% in 2009.

While VanDerhei attributed the decline in current savings rates to job losses, mortgage problems and the suspension of corporate 401(k) matches in 2009, he said the economy isn’t entirely to blame.

“In previous years, there were a whole lot of people who had nothing to begin with,” said VanDerhei.

The gap between what Americans have saved and what they’d need for retirement is forcing workers to prolong their working years.

According to the survey, 24% of workers said they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year, up from 14% in 2008.

But even as fears over health care costs and job prospects mount, the survey found that only 46% of workers have tried to calculate what they need for a comfortable standard of living in their golden years.

“People just don’t want to think about this,” said VanDerhei. “Everybody thinks they’re too young to think about it, until suddenly they’re too old to do anything about it.”

In general, financial planners say that retirement savings, including Social Security benefits and pension, should be large enough to provide about 80% of pre-retirement income.

To reach that target, “most Americans need to be saving within the healthy range of 6% – 10% (of their salary),” said Beth McHugh, vice president of workplace investing for Fidelity Investments.

But the survey found that 54% of the workers with some form of savings said that they have less than $25,000 stowed away.

Delaying retirement, though not ideal, is a good sign that people are finally facing reality.

“People have figured out that they don’t have enough money,” VanDerhei said. “Still, I’d rather they bite the bullet today, rather than take the chance that they’d have a job when they are 65.”

The EBRI surveyed 1,153 U.S. workers and retirees, age 25 and older, in January.