"Don't Be An Idiot!"

Got an interesting email the other day from someone who claims to be "an investor", and I just assumed they believed they meant "a real estate investor", but please read on...

It was an unsolicited email, actually more like a "rant", and in this unsolicited email they listed all the reasons they were NOT coming to this year's conference in Baltimore October 4th-7th (http://www.TrumpStrategiesBaltimore.com)

Personally it makes little difference to me if they come or not. As I always tell people, if I am involved in the sponsorship of an event, I design it for me, and if I am the only one who shows up, I'll get something out of it. This was true day 1 with the DC-CMREIG club (http://www.DCREIA.com) and probably the reason every meeting has at least 250-300 people. Honestly, I go for me, and if I am the only one in the room with the speaker that day I am happy. Far too many people need to get "approval" to do anything, including becoming successful, if this is you I got a future blog coming on this topic. Trust me, no one on the FORBES 400 "needed permission to be successful", so we need to work together to get over this if it applies to you.

Anyway, back to this guys email. Not only was his list a short list, it was quite frankly a stupid list. He basically went on to say that he did not "need any more education", and he was simply going to "figure this thing out on his own".

The main reason you go to a conference is to network amongst successful investors who are actually making things happen and have figured this thing out. No, I'm not talking about a "pitch-fest", nor a one-day "traveling circus" sponsored by some national guru who gives you a "FREE PREVIEW" in the hope he can get you to fly all over the country attending a string of Bootcamps that will teach you the basics, but nothing about local markets.

No, I'm talking about a bona fide "come early, stay late" lots of opportunities for exchanging information conference. And to the best of my knowledge, these are almost always sponsored by local REIA's. E.g. the "super-regional" event sponsored by groups like Ohio REIA, Georgia REIA, Denver REIA, and of course the "National Real Estate Investor's Conference" in the DC area, which is brainchild of the folks at MAREIA and DCREIA (DC-CMREIG and DC-VAREIG).

The reality is that in today's real estate market some folks are going to continue to make money, but twice as many are going to lose their shirts and get hurt. As George Ross said in a recent Real Investors Talk Radio Interview (http://www.RealinvestorsTalkRadio.com) "There have been as many fortunes LOST in Real Estate, as were ever Made". Of course he goes on to say the reason for losing money is the investors lack of education on how real estate really works as well as lack of surrounding themselves with good team members". Interesting it is not lack of money - in our interview he specifically talks about a deal he and Trump are splitting a $300 MILLION Dollar profit on, that they bought from an investment group that have (actually, had) hundreds of millions of dollars. Unfortunately what they had in cash, they did not possess in "brains" when it comes to real estate investing, and the lack of knowledge caused them to lose both their lower-Manhatten project and a ton of M-O-N-E-Y.

It is not that George is "Anti-Real Estate", it is more like he is "Anti-IGNORANCE". Actually, he is a realist, and the reality is that you can make a ton of money in real estate, and you can also get hurt - Not hurt bad, hurt "P-E-R-M-A-N-E-N-T-!", as Burgess Meradeth said in ROCKY II

Any time you have the type of upheaval we are seeing now you have both a CRUSHING Impact, and OPPORTUNITY. They key is to figure out what side of the transaction you are on.

If we have said it once, we have said it a thousand times: "you make your money in this business when you buy, and you recognize your profit when you sell". Well right now knowing what to buy and how to "buy right" is going to make some folks very wealthy. Turbulence in markets always does. But you can not figure this thing out listening to the major media. If the reporters working for the major media are so darn smart, why do most of them live in apartments paying rent to their LANDLORDS?

If you want to learn this business, then you need to be where the folks who understand it are, and ask them questions, like: "What Are You Doing Right Now In This Market?"

For everyone loosing their shirt in Northern Virginia (Wall Street Journal Article on Wednesday of this Week), there is an equal number of investors making a killing by picking up their pieces.

I just left a settlement 3 hours ago with a $52,000 settlement (PROFIT) check for one of the last of a 1/2 block of buildings we are rehabbing in Baltimore City, where the market continues to be VERY STRONG in the Sub-$200,000 price point. But to hear "people talk" you'd think now is the time to dump everything and move back into a pre-12,000 stock market. And in 12-18 months we will be hearing about how people are getting smoked in the stock market when the Dow crashes back to below 10,000.

Bottom Line: you have people who are serious about real estate, and understand the power of investing in and around a place like DC (Capital of the Free World) and then you have those who are simply looking for "easy money" and last month it was real estate, today it is the stock market, and next month it will be oil and gas futures. People who consistently are looking for the next "big thing", but won't spend a dime on actually learning how to make money with a sound, proven strategy in either real estate, stock and commodities speculation. In the end the true "real" investor understands the importance of networking and investing in their education BEFORE and DURING their investing in actual deals, and that the learning process never ends.

Pity this "easy-money" crowd never read bothered to H. Russell Conwell's Acres of Diamonds: http://www.temple.edu/about/temples_founder/acres_text.html If they did, they would realize you never make a dime chasing the next "Big Thing". No, you make money by making the time to figure out what works, what's proven, and then finding the most successful person in that endeavor you can get in front of and getting their help until you can figure it out on your own. If you want diamonds, you need to be digging in South Africa, and if you want oil riches, you best own some land in Nigeria or Saudi Arabia, but if you are fortunate enough to be living in DC, you'd be smart to make the time to figure out how real estate investing really works - cause DC (both downtown and the 90 mile radius around the White House) real estate market has been making people rich for generations.

But back to this guy's "stupid email"...

The Bottom Line: You Never STOP Learning.

You will either pay your tuition to go to learning events, or you will pay your tuition in the marketplace of hard knocks. They key is to invest in the right learning environments -Or- simply choose not to play at all. There is nothing wrong with working for "The MAN" until the day you drop dead, and many people make money who speculate in things like oil and gas and the stock market. They have a plan, and as said earlier they pay "tuition" to learn.

But doing what this guy was advocating - "going it alone" is a plan for idiots!

Sherman Ragland - Thanks for Reading...