All Forum Posts by: Jon Klaus

I was listening to a talk radio show about entrepreneurship and this question came up: What is the most important job of an entrepreneur? Without hesitation the guest/guru replied “marketing, too many of us get caught up thinking the service or product we provide is our most important job, but it is not. Marketing is most important.â€

Now I am a marketing guy, but I don’t know that I’d be as dogmatic as the guru. But it did get me thinking about another question:

What is the most important thing you bring to your REI business?

Marketing? Property acquisition? Finding $$? Property management? Identifying opportunity? Retailing? Rehabbing? Negotiation? What is the number one thing you bring to the table?

What are the implications of your number one strength? Should you work in that area as much as possible and outsource everything else that you can? Should you get a partner to cover your weaknesses? Should you redesign your business plan to leverage your strength?

So, what do you bring to the table?

Ah, the beauty of the world's largest bureaucracy flexing it's might to protect us against flies in February.

How much above market are those Section 8 rent payments?

"but these were priced much lower than usual."

Which brings up another issue--pricing disparity. I have seen comparable homes in the same area priced at $30K and $50K for homes that were virtually the same value. The $30K home sells first time offered while the $50K languishes and finally sells after a few months and a few reductions. Who is pricing them and why are they so bad at it? Or is there some hidden purpose for this disparate pricing?

"Priority is ALWAYS given to the owner occupied. Even if their bid is lower than an investors (to an extent). "

This is my experience. Last week I bid more than asking on 2 properties and lost them both to owner occupants who bid less than asking. I rarely bid asking, but these were priced much lower than usual.

I've made 60-70 HUD offers recently, and they've come back on 5 or 6 telling me no, but they will consider $xxx. I've gotten 5 of of my slew of offers accepted.

Welcome Down, what are you doing/planning to do in real estate investing?

Sell IT services. I know it's not RE, but it's what you know and you can teach her the value propositions. Develop services and consulting that save your clients money, create new efficiencies, and drive productivity. Look into managed services. Perhaps develop a RE vertical, but you might want to go after a healthier category (healthcare for instance).

Save cash like crazy, build credit and invest in RE on the side.

Good idea on using the high visibilty properties for signs.

I've been shooting videos, posting them on YouTube and driving traffic to them with CraigsList ads. Simple, but working fairly well.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TexasCountryLiving

Marc, what are you paying for land/home deals?

I've been paying $20-55K and putting in another $5-9K for repairs/improvements. Typically late model homes on 1-4 acres.