All Forum Posts by: Doug Leedy

I moved down to Fort Lauderdale from Wooster, Ohio ten years ago. I feel your pain...mine was the weather lol. I've been in real estate for almost 50 years and it is different now and, I believe, about to get much more different. The good news is that we're able to do much more now than ever before, largely due to technology, which opens up a lot more possibilities than just landlording. The whole country is available to us. 

The economy is changing and we have to change with it. Here's how I did it This has only been feasible for the average person within the past 10 years or so. It offers diversification and a national reach.

The title is pretty self-explanatory :) I'm curious as to what you find as your biggest problem as a real estate agent in the "normal" market. This is a crowded, competitive industry. What do you do to make yourself stand out?

Yes I am, to a small degree. Most of my investments are in Illinois and Indiana. I see technology changing the industry significantly. More buyers/sellers will at least attempt to filter properties online. Some will succeed. I see Title companies becoming bigger players. I see fewer agents, and 87% of newly licensed agents fail within the first 5 years already. Agents will need to diversify significantly to survive, but those who do can really prosper. Here are a few thoughts. 

Very quickly, this industry, like our economy, is changing and we need to change with it. Are you prepared? What do you do to set yourself apart from your competition? What have you done to prepare for the next down market? How do you build client loyalty? Are these questions relevant to you?

I appreciate your input George. I've been in real estate for 45 years and Renatus is the best concept in real estate that I've seen. I think the Essentials education is the best value I've seen out there, in real estate or anything else. 70 hours of education taught by investors who actually do what they teach and supported by a local community of investors. Tough to beat, but there is so much cynicism out there that it's tough to get across to people. The 10 courses should pay for themselves pretty quickly. I tell people to just take a look and see for themselves. 

I would simply like to inform you of a group that you might not know about. We have meetings every week, along with trainings, house tours etc., and we consist of everything from total newbies to seasoned investors who have done hundreds of deals. This is a very unique approach to real estate, one that essentially has three approaches...we offer over 400 hours of top-notch education taught by people who actually make their living doing what they teach, a marketing arm for those of you who enjoy that, and the formation of local communities of investors that acts as a support system for encouragement and teamwork. This seems to be exactly what many of you are looking for.

There is nothing else like what we do out there that I am aware of, and I've been in real estate for over 45 years. It will be worth your while to at least check us out. That costs nothing and could make a real difference for you. It does require registration, so please contact me privately for further information. Thanks, and good luck with finding something that suits you. How the new Information Age economy offers you opportunity that has only happened once before in this country. 

Here's my 2 cents. MOST people can't (won't) get started on their own. They are scared and they are ignorant (uneducated, not a negative term) and they are almost always naive. They are usually dreamers with hopes and ideas but no knowledge. They need support...GOOD support. LOCAL support. EXPERIENCED support. 

Such support doesn't come free. Most experienced individual investors are unwilling or unable to hand-hold newbies. Those few who are are gems but there are far more wannabee's than those kinds of investors. The guru's offer good information but their delivery system is flawed and largely unsuccessful. All this makes it a very tough business to get started in. 

What most people don't know is that there are many ways to invest in real estate. It isn't limited to fix-n-flip, wholesaling or buying duplexes or triplexes.  Tax liens, tax deeds, buying notes/mortgages, large apartment complexes, commercial...many avenues, each with their own requirements and rewards, and the less well-known the less competition there is. Very few people are well-versed in all of these things. Hell, most don't even know they exist so there is huge opportunity there for the right people. The trick is to find something that offers expertise in all of these areas. 

Knowledge is ALWAYS power, ignorance is always expensive and education stays with you for life. We have a changing economy, our education system has failed us and jobs are disappearing. This means there is opportunity in real estate. The trick is to find something that works for you. It won't be free but it will pay dividends for a lifetime. 

Alright, I'm going to chime in here. I have 45 years in the industry, 15 as a full-time realtor and 25 as a full-time appraiser. I served (briefly) on the Board of Directors of my local Board of Realtors. I've been around and survived the real estate wars...sometimes barely. I simply tell you all this so you know I've lived it.

The biggest mistake I made in my career was not investing in the very industry in which I made my living. I started out doing that, in partnership with two friends, a painting contractor and a plumbing contractor, and we owned 12 doors by the time we were 30. Nice start. But back then, in small-town rural Ohio, being an investor usually meant owning duplexes or triplexes, and my role was being the landlord. I hated it. So, being young and dumb I said I'd never do that again. I liquidated and never did it again. Not smart and my biggest regret. 

I went through my career as a lone ranger, and happily so. I had a good career for the most part without a lot of stress, but the last 10 years or so were a *****. I saw the lending policies, I wouldn't play ball with the lenders and I lost tons of business. I survived, but barely. It wasn't fun. I retired and moved to Florida 8 years ago, thinking I could invest down here because of my "experience". WRONG!! Apples and oranges to say the least. From small town white-bread middle America to urban, multi-cultural south Florida...talk about culture shock! I didn't know what I was going to do. I spent a bunch of money with Armando Montelongo. Good info but I went home after 3 days, woke up a couple days later and said "what now". I was lost, even with my experience. That business model (I had done sever others like it several years earlier) just doesn't work for most people. Most people have good intentions starting out but just can't do it on their own. Human nature I think. 

Now, to the meat of my story. I went to an investors luncheon one day. Came out and saw a car with a sign on it that said Real Estate Investor Seeking Trainee. I thought it was worth a call. Was it ever. It saved my ***. It was a different concept in real estate. I'm not saying it's for everyone, I'm not saying it works for everyone. But I am saying I've seen multiple kids begin acquiring real estate before they hit 20 and I've seen some become able to retire by 30. As for me, I came down here 8 years ago having sold my house in Ohio and having nothing else. No real estate at all. I now have partial ownership of 95 single-family houses, notes and mortgages, I've done a couple flips, I've done several small private loans and I've earned some significant money through commissions by promoting this company.  

What I'm saying here is that real estate is the greatest wealth-building industry in the world. Many people would like to do it but are scared to...scared of making a mistake and losing money and not having a clue where to begin. This Renatus model creates local communities of investors who learn together, work together, partner together, party some and mix work with play. That's called support, and its this support system that makes this model different from anything else out there. It takes most of the fear away. We're in a new Era. The traditional college education doesn't work for many people the way it used to. It is still educating to the Industrial Age, creating employees. 

Those days are numbered, as are the days of many brick-and-mortar businesses. We will have 30% unemployment one of these days. Jobs are disappearing and underpaid. Automation, technology, the net, robotics, now Artificial Intelligence are taking jobs away at a rapid pace. What will my grandkids do to make a living? Real estate, that's what! There are three necessities in life...water, food and shelter. We're in the shelter business. 

New models are needed. I'm convinced that this is the business and education model of the future. Online, available 24/7, taught by people who actually make their living doing what they teach, live classes available, MP3 and workbooks online and, with most packages the education, updates and all new classes are included for as long as Renatus exists. It is the best concept in real estate that I've seen in my long career. It really wasn't feasible 10 years or so ago because the technology wasn't available then. It is now. I have a degree in education and my wife was a 35 year classroom teacher, so I know good education when I see it. And this is about far more than fix-n-flip. It's about how to set up and structure a business, how to find the money to do deals, how money works, how to pay off installment debt in 1/3 of the time without increasing your payments, tax liens and deeds, buying  notes and mortgages, how to find and buy apartment complexes, find people to manage them, how to manage those managers, commercial real estate and much more. This works. Everyone needs to have someone teach them things. Very few go it alone. Don't be fooled to think you can. You probably can't. You probably need help. Support.  The "Guru's" don't offer that. I would counsel you to find something that does. Something in real estate.

If there was such a thing I can see where it could succeed very nicely.

Maybe this is too late in the game for this discussion but I'm throwing in my two cents anyway. I am a proud affiliate of Renatus. It is the only model of its kind that I'm aware of and the best concept in real estate that I've seen in my 45-year real estate career. Here's why. 

The guru's all have basically the same business model. Get people to a one-day seminar. Firehose them with GOOD information. Pressure them to buy an entry level package of courses, usually limited to flipping. They go home and two days later wake up, have retained about 10% of what they heard and say to themselves "what do I do now"?  The vast, vast majority of people just can't or won't take action alone. They call for help and are upsold into a Bus Tour or 3-day seminar or long-distance "Mentoring", all for a small phenomenal fee. This seldom works either and people are left holding the bag. 

The Renatus business model is totally different. Ours is a 3-step process. First, we have a 2-hour Business Briefing, which is an overview of the Renatus education and an introduction to our local communities of Renatus investors. We meet several times weekly, local, live and in-person, with multiple trainings. We also have national trainings 4-days a week multiple times daily. Second, we have people come back, if they like what they've seen, for breakout sessions on our proprietary software system for help with finding properties and/or velocity banking (paying off consumer debt in about a third of the time saving the consumer up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Third, we have a follow-up session which is pretty much 1-on-1 answering any remaining questions. At that point the prospect has all the information they need to make a decision. We are an EDUCATION company, not a sales company.

All this leads to a support system and a network of investors, both local an national. We have a very good success history, though those are very hard to quantify. We have people who come in and have their first deal within a matter of weeks. We have people in their late teens and early twenties who have actual deals under their belts. This is VERY different that what the guru's do and I believe its the education and business model of the future, kind of like VoEd on steroids with education available online 24/7, for LIFE (including updates and new courses), practitioner-instructors who actually make their living doing what they teach and a local support system.

Education is always needed. People usually need support. There is safety in numbers. Partnering is encouraged as a learning tool. This model works and I don't know any other company that approaches what Renatus offers. Really, sometimes those who do, teach. It's called paying it forward.