FREE WORKSHOP LIVESTREAM

The Path of Least Resistance

As the newest Financial Freedom Program mentor here at the Lifestyles Unlimited® office in Houston I have noticed a few common threads and patterns in the behavior and mindset of new real estate investors and those who want to try investing for the first time.

Common Threads

Fear. The first of those common threads is fear. Fear is a great motivator. Unfortunately it motivates people into not taking the actions they need to improve their lives. Fear of rejection will keep a man from approaching a beautiful woman. Fear of loneliness will keep a person from getting out of a bad relationship. And fear of failure will keep a person from investing in real estate.

Magic Bullet. Another common thread that I have noticed is that many people, mostly the skeptics, are looking for a “magic bullet” or the one answer that holds the key to their success. Nothing that we teach is new or secret and we do emphasize that success in investing does take work. At Lifestyles Unlimited® we teach a particular model of investing and we teach mindsets that investors need to hold if they are going to be successful. There are no magic bullets and the only secret we know about is that there are no secrets to success.

Lack of Knowledge. The third common thread with many prospective investors is a lack of knowledge in how to make money investing in real estate. Solving this problem will in turn solve other problems, most notably the problem of fear. It is true that people fear things that they do not understand and let’s face it, we are not born with an innate knowledge of how to make money investing.

More Than One Way to Skin a Cat

Of course there are many roads to wealth and obviously investing in single family homes or apartment buildings is not the only way to achieve a lifestyle of success. Some people make their fortune importing goods from far away; some people make their fortune as professional athletes; others make their fortune from inventions; still others make their millions illegally.

However, for the average person, the people like you and me who are not athletic, not very inventive, and not prone to partaking in illegal activity, one of the easiest roads to wealth is by investing in residential real estate.

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

The reason Lifestyles Unlimited® teaches a particular model is because we have learned, through many years of investing in real estate, that it is the path of least resistance. One of the mindsets that we teach here at Lifestyles is that there is no need to reinvent the wheel. It’s something that both Del and Steve are frequently saying on their radio shows.

Their experience and the experience of countless fellow investors has taught us that, although there are other ways to make money in real estate, we teach the way that will cause you the fewest problems and offer you the most protection against losses. (See the article entitled “Do’s and Don’ts of Real Estate Investing”). Notice I say we “teach” you how to invest.

Don’t Stray

One of the last things I remember Del Walmsley saying at the end of his two day class on real estate investing is that most of us are not going to listen to what he just spent two days teaching about. That we would go out and do things on our own, rather than the way he teaches. It’s true that people do that. I get calls from members all the time who stray from our model path of least resistance.

While it is possible that those investors who do things differently than the Lifestyles model teaches can make money and be successful, there are many problems that they will encounter and stumbling blocks that they will face that can be mitigated by following our proven strategies. So again, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Learn from those who are successful and be successful yourself.

Addressing the Common Threads

Let’s go back to the common threads I mentioned at the beginning of this article and address them in the reverse order that they were presented.

Lack of knowledge

This is the easiest of the problems to eliminate when it comes to getting started as a real estate investor. While it is true that you can spend a lifetime learning about investing, the real “meat and potatoes” can be learned in fairly short order. When I started investing in real estate I knew very little about houses. I still have to tell myself “righty tighty, lefty loosey” when I’m turning a screwdriver.

Fortunately there are countless ways of learning the nuts and bolts of home maintenance, financing, property management, etc. and many times it is very inexpensive or even free to learn. For example, The Home Depot teaches classes on home repair for free! You can get free instruction on how to re-tile you kitchen floor. Call your nearest location, or check them out online.

Two web sites that are packed with information that is helpful to both the real estate investor and all homeowners alike is the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac websites. The links below will direct you to dozens of forms and documents that are used in single family home transactions, helpful information, tools and educational resources:

https://www.efanniemae.com/sf/formsdocs/forms/index.jsp?from=hp
www.freddiemac.com/uniform

Better yet, you can go to the Texas Real Estate Commission web site and familiarize yourself with documents specific to Texas:
www.trec.state.tx.us/formslawscontracts/default.asp

To familiarize yourself with the terminology of mortgages, go to the website: http://www.mortgage101.com/article/mortgage-terminology

Better yet, you can call Lifestyles Unlimited® (866.945.6565) and ask about one of our free workshops, where you can actually meet the mentors face to face and get more information about the group.

Magic Bullet

The second of the common threads was the search for the “magic bullet”. Again, one of the mindsets that is often mentioned on Del and Steve’s radio shows is to learn how to be successful from somebody who already is successful. We have a “Required Reading List” for our members and mentors here at Lifestyles Unlimited®, and although nobody is asking us to turn in book reports, we feel that the knowledge and wisdom shared in those books is invaluable. And one thing you may take from them is that hard work is pretty much the only real secret to success. (The required reading list can be downloaded by clicking on the Free Listener Kit on the home page).

I recently had a new member call me and ask me for one technique that I could share with him starting today. One technique that could help him start making money today. This member had not yet taken our two day class that is packed full of investing know-how. I told him to go to our web-site and log in as a member, then he could start viewing some of the past guest speaker events. Rather than do the work of educating himself, he instead gave me reasons why he believed that none of our guest speakers would give him techniques on how to make money investing in real estate. He passed judgment on the instructional videos even before watching them. He instead kept asking me for just one technique on investing. “Buy below market value”, I told him. That was my big secret. That was my magic bullet.

Fear

Lastly is the very common thread of fear. Fear of failure. Fear of ridicule. And most of all, especially present to the investor, is the fear of losing money. By teaching the average investor how to be successful, we eliminate the fear of the unknown. By having unlimited access to mentors and fellow investors, our members can eliminate the fear of making costly mistakes.

By being successful, you too will eliminate the fear of being ridiculed. Our members have access to instruction on the web-site, they have access to our vendors and of course they have access to other like-minded investors. Our guest speaker nights are a great opportunity to spend time with attorneys, CPA’s, roofers, pest control guys, mortgage companies, home inspectors, etc.

Before I bought my first property I looked into the mirror and said to myself, “Myself, what is the worst thing that can happen here?” I was buying the property from a man who was selling because he was preparing for a surgery that he didn’t know whether or not he would survive; the likelihood was high that he would not. For all he knew he would be dead in a couple of months.

I thought that no matter what happened, whether I ended up going broke, being ridiculed by my friends, or having to be up at all hours of the night fixing broken pipes…no matter what, I would still be alive and well. Fortunately, the seller survived his surgery and is still today a successful real estate investor himself. I realized that indeed I had nothing to fear but fear itself.

Thank You

So I say thank you to the Lifestyles Unlimited® family who have welcomed me and made me feel right at home and I invite you to come by and say hello to me yourself. If you are in the Houston area feel free to come to one of our introductory workshops. If you are already a member then call the Houston office and say hi. I would love to hear about your successes and if you are still letting fear stand in your way then call me and let’s get that monster out of the way and get you on the road to success.