About

I’m living proof that you can quickly become a millionaire in real estate. I have contracted over 500 homes. Unfortunately, I’m also living proof that you can go bankrupt. I went from 42 rental units, $4+ million in residential real estate and $1.4 million in net worth to multiple foreclosure proceedings, $1.1 million in unsecured debt, negative net worth and bankruptcy.

My Story

I’m no dummy, I was just dumb. With a bachelor’s degree in business, a family history of self-employment, and experience in several entrepreneurial businesses, I was ready to become a real estate tycoon. What I got wasn’t another BA or BS but a BK, meaning bankruptcy! Here’s how it happened.

Several years ago, I found myself back in the corporate world making over $200,000. But I soon realized why I had left in the first place. I just didn’t like working for somebody else. I’m sure you can relate.

I was on a plane reading “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki when I decided I needed to get into real estate. The problem was that I didn’t have a ton of money. Sure I made good money in the corporate world but not enough. Next thing you know I and two partners bought a real estate franchise. Not just any franchise but the King Daddy of real estate investment, HomeVestors. Heck, who needs money when someone will finance every deal? We were living a Kiyosaki dream…infinite returns on OPM (other people’s money, primarily HomeVestors’) Over a very short period of time I read everything I could possibly get my hands on about real estate. I started buying property. Lots of property…

In our first year we contracted to buy 56 houses. We were buying and selling as fast as possible. We even started holding rentals. We were HomeVestors’ Rookie of the Year our first year in business. I had two other partners working with me, but one of them soon jumped ship. Left with just one other partner, we didn’t let that stop us. In the second year we bought 72 houses and in the third year we bought 132 houses! We were a regular HomeVestors’ Top Ten Office in Buys & Sales.

But Something was Missing

There was a big problem though. We really didn’t know what was making us money: flipping homes, holdings rentals or selling for retail value? We did it all but were constantly broke. We had lots of “equity” but no cash. We were leveraged to the hilt. As partners, we kept putting in more money and it was really starting to weigh the business down. In fact, we struggled to meet payroll. We started borrowing money from friends and family so we could grow faster! The answer seemed so clear! Buy more houses!!! The pressure grew intense. Finally for personal and business reasons my other partner quit. The business was upside down financially. Sadly, we didn’t realize how bad at the time.

In spite of the situation I plowed forward. I was committed to making a profitable business and paying off our debts. I brought in another partner (who is still with me today) and we began getting rid of our inventory.

In the fall of 2004, I began developing a tool that would help us analyze a job standing on its own. We had some tools provided to us by the Franchisor but we needed something different — something that was built for profitability analysis. We were desperate. But the tool wasn’t there fast enough, and we couldn’t handle our debt load.

We Created the Solution

So what did we learn? What can you learn? Through the school of hard knocks, we realized that our Property Analysis Tool is the single most powerful real estate examination vehicle that exists today. Any given month we may evaluate 50+ houses. Last year alone we evaluated over 600 houses with the REI Edge system. Through this experience, I’ve realized just how many houses we should have passed by and how many houses we should have snatched.

Long story short? The tool will show you how to make money! Much better money than I or you could ever make working for someone else, somewhere else, answering to somebody else, and not really doing what you want to do. Take control of your real estate future! Stop guessing how much you might make in real estate.

It will work for you. You pick the profit, you evaluate the property, and the tool does the rest - removing the emotion from the process. A favorite author of mine, Dave Ramsey, says he doesn’t take financial advice from broke people. I say don’t take advice from someone who doesn’t understand real estate and do it for a living. This is my job! Go run the tool on a few houses and you’ll soon see how much money you can make when you have a system for good decision making. Watch your debt load. If you borrow do it cautiously and prudently. I would strongly recommend you never borrower without collateral.

Final Note

Finally, realize that you can help someone get out of a jam by doing what you’re doing. Remember that the majority of your business (if you’re going to really thrive) will eventually come from referrals. Those referrals won’t come if you are greedy. If someone feels like you “stole” the house out from underneath them, they’re not going to give you any further business. Make deals that are win-win situations. Not only will you make much more money in the long-run, you’ll also be able to sleep at night.