Executive business management teams of franchising organizations had to change the way they did things after 9/11. This is because it is very important who owns your franchises and to their partners, investors and associates are. For instance in Dallas there was a franchised outlet owned by folks who were funneling money to Al Qaeda. The match in what the Franchisor thought when they were contacted by the FBI?
Unfortunately this situation is not rare, as many people who have come to the United States from other nations by franchises because in their old countries they were self-employed. Some of these people still have ties to people in their former country who are not such good apples. It is this is problematic although there are ways to protect the franchising company from this happening.
It also depends on how the UFOC of the franchisor is structured and it behooves the Franchisor to require that all partners of so much interest to be listed in the franchising agreement when it is signed. If it were a limited partnership, perhaps this might not be the case in some of the older documents, but now Franchisor’s need to pay more attention to this. It depends on their partnership agreement and the franchisors policy.
In our franchising company after 9-11 we modified our franchise agreements because we wanted to know exactly who was involved in every one of our outlets. And franchising companies must remember that not all UFOCs are equal and certainly not all those who prepare them know what they are doing. Many franchise attorneys or UFOC preparers are not equally yoked or genetically equal? So, please consider this a 2006.
Lance Winslow, a retired entrepreneur, adventurer, modern day philosopher and perpetual tourist.
A lot of people these days are preaching about the buying and holding method of gaining wealth with real estate. There indeed may come a time in your life or business when you?ll want to hang on to a piece of property, although you?ll only be interested in keeping certain types of property. If you?re just starting out, flipping a house may be an ideal way to get started.
Basically, there are three ways that you can flip a house, although each one has its own terms, motivation, and type of property. The first method is known as retailing. What this means, is that you buy a house in bad shape, do the repairs to fix it up, then turn around and sell it. There are a variety of houses in need of repairs out there, and several ways that you can quickly flip a house to net profit. All you need to know are the techniques that will get you the most money in the least amount of time.
The second way you can flip a house is though wholesaling. Wholesaling involves finding a home for sale then flipping it to an investor for a fast, yet small profit. To do this, you?ll need to know the real estate investors in your area, the types of homes that flip the best, and how to fund your property so you can flip it to them. If you live in a big area or a city, you?ll find that using the wholesaling method of flipping houses is actually easier to accomplish.
The third way to flip a house is by assigning the purchase. Using this method, you?ll commit to buy the house. Instead of closing the deal yourself, you?ll assign it to a real estate investor - of course for a small fee. The investor will take the contract over and close the purchase themselves - flipping the house. This can be very profitable, especially if you invest in the right home. You don?t need to have your contract worded any special way to be legal, although you will need to determine the assignment fee.
If you?re looking to break into the real estate market and make big bucks, you?ll need to learn all about flipping houses. Flipping houses is very profitable, especially once you have learned the basics. The first and third methods are the best, although they will both take quite a bit of work on your part. Restoring homes isn?t easy, and you?ll need to have a team qualified to handle any repairs. Assigning the purchase may be difficult when you first start out, although it will get easier with time. If you stay at it and do your best to make a profit - you?ll be an expert at flipping homes in no time at all.
T he last time we met I told you about the U.S. Department of Labor?s prediction that within the next ten to fifteen years fifty percent of the American workforce will consist of home workers, independent contractors, consultants, telecommuters, freelancers, and of course, entrepreneurs.
Think about that for a moment, especially if you are a diehard nine-to-fiver who can?t imagine yourself leaving the comfort of a regular job to try something different. The workplace of the future is either going to be an exciting or dreadful place, and it?s up to you which side of the coin you fall on.
You see, what the Labor Department doesn?t say, but I believe to be true, is that those who find themselves earning a living in non-traditional careers will do so for one of two reasons: they either freely chose to throw off the shackles of the traditional nine-to-five or they were forced to do so because they were casualties of the future?s changing work models.
Layoffs, downsizing, outsourcing, work force reduction, and position elimination: all very nice politically-correct terms that mean one thing: you had better be open to changing the way you think about work because, my brothers and sisters, the times they are a? changing.
The point of our discussion last time focused on those of you who may one day choose the entrepreneurial path. There is a process for going from worker bee to entrepreneur wannabe and it begins with a healthy dose of self-assessment (look inward to determine if you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur) followed by the determination of what kind of business best suits your situation and personality, how you will fund the business, and the writing of a solid business plan.
Now let?s talk about the nuts and bolts of the process: finding a location, lining up vendors, hiring and managing employees, dealing with customers, creating a marketing strategy … hmm, this could turn into a very long column. Let me see if I can abbreviate the process in four paragraphs or less.
If your business will be a brick and mortar, nothing is as important as location. What might be a great location for a shoe store might be a horrible location for a donut shop. What may appear to be a busy location in the morning might be a ghost town in the afternoon. You should rely on experts for this important piece of the process. Work with a commercial realtor or business broker to find a location that meets your specific needs.
Next, if yours will be a product-driven business, your success could hinge on the quality, price, and availability of the products you sell. You must establish strong relationships with reliable vendors who can provide an ample supply of the products your customers demand. Always be cultivating relationships with new vendors. Never rely on a single source for products because sources have a tendency to dry up over time.
Next comes the hiring and managing of employees. Like your location and product, employees can make or break your business. Knowledgeable employees who know the value of - and deliver - exceptional customer service are like nuggets of gold. Unfortunately, they are also as hard to find. Don?t hire your wife?s brother or your best friend?s son. It?s easier to find a new best friend than a new customer. Hire based on experience and expertise and train every employee well. Set expectations high and most important of all, lead by example, not by the book.
Finally, the big question: if you build it will they come? Afraid not, my new entrepreneur friend. You must have a killer marketing plan that will bring the world - or at least your piece of the world - to your door.
You can have the best product in the world, but if you don?t tell anyone about it, you won?t sell a thing. Creating a killer marketing plan really isn?t that hard. Just ask yourself questions like: who is my target customer and what is the best way to reach them? What can I do to stand out from the crowd? What can I do differently? How can I get noticed? And how can I do that without spending an arm and leg on advertising? Two great books on this topic are Purple Cow by Seth Godin and There?s A Customer Born Every Minute: P.T. Barnum?s Secrets To Business Success by Joe Vitale.
Of course there?s far more to going from employee to entrepreneur than I can cover here in just a couple of columns, which is why I wrote a book on the topic called Everything I Know About Business I Learned From My Mama.
Shameless self-promotion aside, I hope this will help you decide if future entrepreneurship is for you. No matter what path you choose remember this: the workplace is changing. You must be prepared and willing to change with it or you?ll end up a statistic on another government list, this one stamped: Unemployed.
The Economic cycle plays an important role in real estate investing. The idea of an Economic cycle is simple. It states that what goes up must also come down. Although housing prices and real estate in general have had an overall increase in value for a great many years and there is confidence that the market will never crash completely. This has led many investors to consider real estate investment a secure thing, and their strategy is usually based on the long term potential of the investment. In other words, buy property and hold on to it until the profit you seek can be realized.
Although this strategy is not really bad for the long term investor, it will not enable him to realize the type of return that is possible when investing in certain profit rich areas such as Utah real estate. The cyclic nature of the Economic Cycle presents a danger that the market will be on a downswing when you are looking to unload your investment and the years taken to reach your goal might tie up your investment capital so that other opportunities are missed.
In an area such as Provo real estate, where profit potential is so great because of the attractiveness of the area for investing in properties that can be converted to rental units, the hold on to it strategy is a poor choice for the investor who wishes to make a solid return. There are other strategies that make much more sense. Even the Bargain Purchase strategy is better. In this concept, only properties that can be purchased at below 20% their true value are considered. The 20% figure allows the property to be returned to the market at once at its full value.
Another strategy that is related is the Increased Value strategy. This is going to be more likely in an area such as Provo real estate. It involves purchasing at the actual true value and making improvements within the first six months that increase the value by 20%, and then returning the property to the market at the increased value figure.
When rental property is the thrust of your real estate strategy, the Double Digit Cap Rate plan is a good investment choice. It limits your property purchases to those that can produce a capitalization rate of at least 10%. The capitalization rate is the net operating income of the property. The percentage figures in these strategies are guidelines for making the investment practical. If these minimum figures are not met, the investment capital should be invested in other low return investments and the real estate market avoided unless the hold on until it goes up strategy is used.
Executive business management teams of franchising organizations had to change the way they did things after 9/11. This is because it is very important who owns your franchises and to their partners, investors and associates are. For instance in Dallas there was a franchised outlet owned by folks who were funneling money to Al Qaeda. The match in what the Franchisor thought when they were contacted by the FBI?
Unfortunately this situation is not rare, as many people who have come to the United States from other nations by franchises because in their old countries they were self-employed. Some of these people still have ties to people in their former country who are not such good apples. It is this is problematic although there are ways to protect the franchising company from this happening.
It also depends on how the UFOC of the franchisor is structured and it behooves the Franchisor to require that all partners of so much interest to be listed in the franchising agreement when it is signed. If it were a limited partnership, perhaps this might not be the case in some of the older documents, but now Franchisor’s need to pay more attention to this. It depends on their partnership agreement and the franchisors policy.
In our franchising company after 9-11 we modified our franchise agreements because we wanted to know exactly who was involved in every one of our outlets. And franchising companies must remember that not all UFOCs are equal and certainly not all those who prepare them know what they are doing. Many franchise attorneys or UFOC preparers are not equally yoked or genetically equal? So, please consider this a 2006.
Lance Winslow, a retired entrepreneur, adventurer, modern day philosopher and perpetual tourist.
When Robert Kiyosaki, author of the Rich Dad book series, bought his first property he was, of course, ecstatic. Finally, he had done it. He had taken that first important step in truly building his wealth that the man he called his ?rich dad? so often touted?investing. He knew it was very important to become an investor and make his money work for him.
The trouble was, the property he purchased was a losing deal for him. He didn’t see this at first, thanks to a smooth-talking real estate agent. But when he took the contract to his rich dad, he learned what a mistake he had made. According to that deal, he would be losing money each month. He thought it would be all right because he had been told that lost money was an investment in the future appreciation of the property.
He also was not aware that there would soon be major construction near the site, which would hamper access for quite some time. Who would want to live there?
What saved Kiyosaki on that deal was having a mentor like his rich dad, who made him go back and renegotiate the deal. The more experienced investor told him that you should never settle for losing money early in the deal, in the hopes that you will make up for it later. That is a bad deal.
Rich dad made him go renegotiate the contract and instead of losing money each month, he would be gaining $80 per month. His rich dad asked him how many of those losing deals he could afford at that rate. You can do the math. He couldn’t even afford the one. But at a gain of $80 per month, Kiyosaki’s reply to that question was, as many as he could get his hands on.
But many newbie investors fail to put themselves in the hands of a mentor, which his a mistake. It is good to have a trusted friend?not an advisor who stands to make a buck off of you, but someone who truly wishes to educate you?to keep them from making dire mistakes.
Another mistake that rookies often make is the very one that Kiyosaki made?they allow themselves to be talked into deals in which they lose money, after getting bogged down in mathematical ?if’s? that look really good on paper. ?If the property appreciates at this rate, then I can make up all the money I lost in the previous year and…and…? That is, IF the unit stays rented. IF the tenants pay you on time. IF you don’t discover a significant flaw with the property. IF the tenants don’t cause a significant flaw with the property…
The list goes on. It’s bad enough if you’re making money on the deal and something like that happens. If you start out losing money, you’re almost guaranteeing your own failure. Yet a smooth-talking professional can make it sound as though they are doing you a favor by taking your money.
And finally, newbies often fail to consider the environment within which they are making their purchase, just as Kiyosaki did. With real estate, unlike with other investments, the local financial ecosystem can seriously affect your investment, and so you have to stay on top of what is happening in the neighborhood and the rest of the city.
The thing is to educate yourself and keep your head at the negotiating table. If you do those two things then your deals will likely be just that?deals. For you.
About the Author:
Investment Property Specialist - Alex Anderson Helps Beginning and Intermediate Real Estate Investors To Build Wealth And Prepare For Retirement By Investing In Real Estate. Enroll In Her Free/Educational “Investment Property Program” At: http://www.GreatInvestmentProperty.com
How real estate investing full time refers to how to make real estate investing a full time career for you. When we talk of this topic, an old and popular phrase comes to our minds and that says, “Time is money.” It is difficult to believe that someone has not heard about it. However, when we think of this phrase in this perspective we need to ask ourselves that why and how we should invest our time in the real estate business.
Consider The Profitability Factor Carefully Before Venturing
There are several steps involved in the process of analyzing how real estate investing full time. First, you need to consider the profitability of the real estate business. We have to make sure that the money we invest should provide a good return to you. You have to be careful enough to avoid any possibility of wasting your resources. As there are so many hands on opportunities many people make the mistake of looking at what others are doing in this field. You must forego this kind of mentality and learn the art of minding your own business.
When you analyze the topic how real estate investing full time in depth you will realize the importance of respecting and honoring the time factor. There are many points that you need to consider if you wish to achieve good growth in the real estate business. You should begin with concentrating on the marketing system of your business. A well-framed marketing system is crucial for the growth of this kind of venture.
Direct Response Strategies For Marketing Campaign
If, in the beginning you have low budget for the marketing campaign then you should focus on direct response strategies so that you get a constant flow of customers every month interested in selling their properties. Once, you successfully complete few deals you can use this profit to make your marketing efforts more powerful and effective.
How real estate investing full time can be your successful career if you master the art of negotiations with the motivated sellers. For this purpose, you have to learn how to build the relationship with the person who is interested in selling his property. It is an established fact that you can clinch a better deal if the other party involved in the negotiations finds it comfortable to talk to you. If you know each other well then first you can start talking on a point of his interest before coming to main point of your concern.
Finally, you should also learn the exit strategies. In fact, it is your ability to sell the property at the right time that earns you a great amount of money. Many people make the mistake of focusing more on acquiring the properties rather than selling.
James Klobasa, once broke with no job and $20,000 in debt made a choice that changed his life forever. That choice was investing in Real Estate. With the founder of, The Little Building Co. you too, can learn at Real-Real Estate Investing
Self-employment is never easy, and there are increased challenges when the business owner has disabilities. Business owners with disabilities need to find ways to operate their businesses successful in a competitive environment. Small Business Ownership and Whole Business Accommodations; By Alice Weiss Doyel; BOLD Consulting Group, LLC
This article contains excerpts from No More Job Interviews! Self-Employment Strategies for People with Disabilities, by Alice Weiss Doyel (2000). Used with permission of the publisher, Training Resource Network, Inc.
Even when the economy was strong, three-fourths of the people with moderate to severe disabilities remained unemployed. Not surprisingly, many people with disabilities see small business ownership as their chance for economic self-sufficiency.
Self-employment is never easy, and there are increased challenges when the business owner has disabilities. Business owners with disabilities need to find ways to operate their businesses successful in a competitive environment. A few years ago I saw my own disabilities become more severe. I knew that I needed to find ways to run my company more effectively. My years of experience as a small business consultant helped me develop the concept of Whole Business Accommodations. I realized that as business owners with disabilities, we must create workplace accommodations which take into consideration the success of our entire business.
Whole Business Accommodations permeate the full scope of the business.
* Operations planning should include accommodations for the owner’s disabilities. These accommodations are not just for the physical attributes of the office, e.g., access, furniture, equipment. These accommodations should take into consideration the people who will be part of the business, or closely associated with it. Whether they are business partners, associates, employees, vendors, family members or support providers, these people are an integral part of making the business work. Their roles in supporting the business owner with disabilities must be integrated into their business functions through the business planning process.
* Marketing capabilities are often affected by the owners disabilities. Determining potentially effective marketing approaches during business planning will allow the company to test and determine the best ways to reach and sell to customers. Some people with disabilities believe that an Internet website is the answer to their marketing challenges. However, the Internet should almost always be used as a secondary marketing approach. There must be direct marketing either by the owner with disabilities, by other company owners or employees, or by sales representatives in order to create a successful marketing effort. * Financial planning is a challenge for business owners with disabilities. Many people with disabilities have few assets of value to help secure a business loan. They may have lived for years in poverty, unable to establish a sound credit record. They may have poor credit due to an unexpected health emergency or accident that created large medical expenses at the same time that they were no longer able to work. Micro-loan programs are a resource for small business owners with disabilities who have viable business plans for start up or existing businesses. These programs will take into consideration disability-related financial limitations and credit problems. Some Whole Business Accommodations are free while others may be quite expensive. All accommodations must meet the same financial test as any other business expense: 1. Can the Whole Business Accommodation be paid for? 2. Is this an effective use of limited company funds? The following are specific examples of Whole Business Accommodations which are consistent with best business practices:
* Creating an accessible office. Many accessibility methods are free or inexpensive, e.g., arranging office furniture and equipment for the greatest ease of use, telephones with easy to read displays and/or large keys, speakerphones or head sets, open storage shelving for easy access, keyboard and mouse that fits the owners physical needs, free Microsoft accessibility utilities, and tables and desks with comfortable wheelchair access. Good office design saves time and energy that the business owner can put into the business. * Including alternative means of transportation in the business plan, e.g., hiring a part-time driver, finding volunteer drivers such as family members or friends, determining effective methods for using public transportation and/or taxi services, and teleconferencing instead of in-person meetings. Business owners with disabilities can host meetings in their own offices, minimizing the need for transportation.
* Using company business policies that protect business owners with disabilities from working in a manner adverse to their health. Developing these policies requires the owner to evaluate and determine the most effective means of running the business. This analysis leads to more effective and profitable management of the entire company.
* Creating a positive, supportive work culture for the business. This includes a culture that values everyones abilities and supports the concept that disabilities do not decrease a persons humanity or value . . . that for many people, the challenges from their disabilities are a means for personal growth. This work culture will be a positive environment for all employees who share these values.
* Hiring a full-time or part-time employee who does work that is difficult or not possible for the business owner. This is a common practice in all businesses; however, here the focus is on assisting in the area of the business owners disabilities. The same employee can serve other functions for the business, bringing more capabilities to the company.
* Partners are often used to create a company where the owners have complementary business or technical skills. Business owners with disabilities can find partners with the skills, time, or energy to compensate for their disability needs.
* Creating alliances with other companies is often an excellent strategy for business owners with disabilities. It allows them to provide a variety of services or products through their alliance partners, while limiting the size of their business and the number of employees they manage. In summary, business owners with disabilities report a wide range of positive experiences when they use Whole Business Accommodations to run their companies more effectively. Whole Business Accommodations are powerful tools for success in business and for success in living a complete and satisfying life.
About the Author
Alice Doyel is the founder of BOLD Consulting Group: where she heads the consulting practice specializing in operations management for small businesses. Also, she is a national speaker, consultant, and advocate on self-employment for people with disabilities. Alice wrote the book, No More Job Interviews! Self-Employment Strategies for People with Disabilities.
Commercial real estate investing can be very rewarding for those who take the time and effort to approach it wisely, but it can be a trap for those who rush in without doing their homework properly.
Too often, investors rush into buying a property for all the wrong reasons ? “it’s a good deal,” a “bargain opportunity” and the list goes on. Then they wonder what happened when the investment either goes pear shaped or becomes a full time job.
If you are serious about building significant wealth from commercial property investment, you must have a proper investment strategy. This is a get rich slow business that requires patience, planning and persistence.
The key elements to any property investment strategy are:
* Get your personal financial affairs in order and make sure they are geared towards building wealth, not paying off consumer debt. Also, check your credit rating to make sure it is in order.
* Draw up a list of your criteria for property type, size and location. Be aware that each type of property requires a different set of skills to manage and offers varying rates of return. It is much easier to fit the property to your strengths rather than you try and change to fit the property.
* Study your local market so you can quickly identify opportunities that are within your capacity to act on. It’s no use looking to invest in an area where you don’t have on the ground knowledge.
* Be prepared to study and learn. Once you’ve spotted a possible deal, you need to be able to accurately value a property based on its condition, your return expectation, and your borrowing power. You need to understand why “what is it worth” is the wrong question to ask, and how to answer the right question “what is it worth to me?”
* Last, you need to learn how to structure deals and make offers too good to refuse.
When you have done this homework properly, you will be in a position to act decisively, reap the profits and keep them. Of course, you will need to consult regularly with your accountant on tax planning and asset protection, which are cornerstones of any wealth building plan.
You also need to consider what your overall portfolio will look like. Don’t fall into the trap of buying all sorts of different properties and then end up with it being a full time job as you juggle dealing with evictions, skips, delinquencies, maintenance and bills.
Once your overall planning is done, the next step is to select your real estate team. You will need a good real estate agent, loan officer, tax advisor, and lawyer. These people are critical to your success because the investor with the best knowledge can quickly identify the properties to ignore and those worth considering.
Remember the old adage, “the quick and the dead” ? the speed at which you can close a deal will give you the edge in any type of market. In addition, your advisors can point you in the right direction regarding finance, tax and legal issues.
Also, there is a good reason behind the catch cry, “location, location, value”. You want a return on your dollar so you are looking for a property that requires some attention so you can add value. One strategy is to buy real estate in up-and-coming area with new developments or renovated properties. This makes it easy to attract and keep good tenants and leads to greater returns.
Another tactic to add value is to buy properties in solid locations but require some maintenance or upgrading, such as improving the aesthetic appeal of the building, thus instantly improving its value with little outlay.
In regard to financing, banks are the most obvious first lender, but commercial loans are not quite as simple as the more commonly known residential loans and you should always seek professional advice from your accountant and legal advisor.
You should also understand the various methods of financing, such as double closing, lease options, and contract for deed.
Double closing has attracted negative publicity lately, but only because it is misunderstood. This is a perfectly legal, moral and ethical method of trading that has been around for 100 years or more.
A double closing is simply two back-to-back closings wherein the proceeds from the second closing are used to fund the first closing. Both closings are done in escrow, so the “middleman” can buy and resell a property for profit without putting up their own cash.
The main downside you have to be careful of is that the closing rarely goes to plan and there are delays of up to a few weeks, which can cause the plan to unravel. Make sure any contract allows for this and you should be covered.
Contract for deed is an agreement whereby the buyer makes installment payments on an arrangement similar to car financing. That is, the seller holds the title to the property while the buyer has the equitable title.
Lease options consist of two elements, the first of which is the lease. This is a contract for use and possession of the property, thus creating a lessor/lessee relationship.
The second element provides a purchase option, which is a unilateral agreement where the seller agrees to give the buyer the exclusive right to the leased property. This is NOT a sale.
Make the effort to prepare your own income and expenses pro formas from the beginning, or get your accountant to do it. Don’t rely on operating results or projections presented by the agent or the seller ? chances are the seller will overstate income and understate expenses, then claim ignorance if challenged.
The only way to know the investment value of what the property is worth to you, is to develop an accurate projection of income and expenses, which can only be obtained by researching the market and determining in advance what the cash flow will be once your investment and management plan is in place.
Also, you need at least a 20-25 % down payment to get access to the best financing terms. You can still get finance on a payment down to 10% but you will pay more interest, loan fees and private mortgage insurance.
Remember, borrowing to cover the majority of your acquisition costs can boost your rates of return, but too much debt expense can be dangerous if the market takes a downturn.
About the Author:
Specializing in commercial and investment real estate, Tony Seruga, Yolanda Seruga and Yolanda Bishop are always searching for new and profitable commercial properties across the U.S. Visit http://www.maverickrei.com for more great information
