Bernard Zick's REIT REAL ESTATE REPORT
August 2003

The REIT Real Estate Report is published about once a month. It is intended to serve no special or worthwhile purpose. It is just my way of telling you what is going on in the world of real estate education. My only goal is that I don't get sued and you are entertained a bit. For an e-newsletter of merit, our next issue of Advice for the Impatient Investor will be out the first week of September.

Editors: Bernard 'Barney' Zick bernard@zick.com and Amy McIntee amy@emcii.com

In this issue:


Editors: Bernard 'Barney' Zick bernard@zick.com and Amy McIntee amy@emcii.com

MORE TITLE COMPANY SCREW UPS! (back to top)

Last month we trashed Christy King of First American Title Insurance Company, office in North Houston. Two subscribers replied with similar sentiments. Then on the news, I heard that the First American Title Insurance Company located on FM 1960 in Humble, Texas closed a house and did not notice that the house had been sold two weeks earlier for back taxes! Of course the news reporter made the guy that bought the house the victim (and he was) and the person that bought the house at the tax sale the villain! (I am sick of the liberal anti wealth press! More on that below...)

I look at us bargain seekers not as "Vultures" (which, by the way, serve a very useful purpose in nature) but as "Housing Ecologists!" We recycle unwanted and neglected housing! The guy that bought the house at the tax sale was doing all tax payers a super favor. He was supplying money for schools and roads. He was working within the system to keep the system working. He should have been the hero in the story, not the villain.

By the way, I feel obligated to note that the manager at First American Title Insurance Company located on FM 1960 in Humble, Texas reports that there has been a complete turnover of staff at her office since this incident occurred.

On the press…I could gag most of the time while listening to the news. I remember a report that said, "We will soon learn which Senator has the dubious honor of being the richest." When did Horacio Alger die? When did we lose the American dream of a poor person making it big? Rich guys getting shoe shines feed poor family's children. Give me a break. Besides, I would rather have a rich man or woman representing me than a broke one that could more easily be influenced by bribes. (That is, unless that rich woman used to be married to a President of the United States; then I would move out of state!) Enough said.

Randy Sotka told me he had a tax deferred exchange set up with First American Title in Reno. They sent him the check from the sale! He said it was really tough to send back a check for $110,000!

Quincy Long of American Title Company of Houston said thanks for the compliment and I still think he deserves it.

BBQ OR BROKEN RIBS? (back to top)

I am glad to report that my long-time associate Robert G Allen is almost well. Earlier this summer he was driving home after an event in foggy San Diego. I used to live in Rancho Santa Fe, as Bob does, and it really can get socked in. His car left the road, whet over an embankment, and folded like a cheap umbrella. For awhile they did not know if he would make it.

With lots of cracks from his head to his toes, he must have been in really bad shape. I got a chance to talk briefly with him to ask if it was okay to send a funny get well card, and he said, "Yes, I could use a good chuckle." He will be okay. He is just thankful that a passing driver happened to notice lights going off the road over the embankment. If it was not for this Good Samaritan stopping to check on the accident, Bob would not be here! (And you tell me you don't believe in angels!)

So as not to be out done, I wrecked myself on my bike last week. I was sitting at a very busy intersection in Kingwood, trying to balance my very tall bike and push the "walk" button at the same time. As the light started to flash that it was okay to cross the street, I juggled the handle bars of my bike to stay upright while motioning for Karen to go around me. You see, she is not as good a bike rider as I am. Very cautious you know.

To avoid falling over after this act of chivalry, I extended my leg to push off on the two foot tall railroad ties stuck in the ground for decoration (and to keep go-carts off the bike path) at the intersection. Well, I thought the railroad ties were stuck in the ground. However, the one I pushed on had been broken off and was just sitting upright. After basically throwing myself into the air and taking my 270 pound, 6'4" body with leg entangled up over the railroad ties and ground, I fell to the earth.

I am here to report an event like this can be a growth experience. People stopped their cars. (I figured they were trying to capture a World's Funniest Home Video moment, but, fortunately, this was not the case.) One person took Karen and the bikes home in their truck. One person called the ambulance, and another kept dusting the ants off me because I could not move. It really made me feel good about my unknown neighbors.

I REALLY appreciate my health. Again. We are so quick to forget how lucky we are to have good health. We are ill, get well, and then forget how great it is to be healthy because it has been so long since we were sick.

I just about screamed in pain Thursday night. Wow - compared with what I was feeling, Bob must have REALLY been hurting. It was all I could do to drag myself on to the plane the next day to do our two-day Options Boot Camp in Phoenix. My students had to put up with me talking slowly (trying to get a full breath was difficult) and Karen had to do a ton of work. But it went well. One couple drove 1,345 miles to be at the boot camp. (That's three days!) One person took their only weekend off from a weekend job to attend. Folks like these made me feel great about not canceling. And to be honest, I never feel better than when I am teaching; it was so much better than sitting at home crying in my beer!

Lessons learned. Be thankful for your good health. Maintain it. Secondly, bad things happen to good people. Live your life well but don't assume that this will eliminate all challenges. And best of all, no matter how bad you have it; someone has most likely had it worse!

INVESTOR WEB SITE SURVEY: WE NEED YOUR HELP AND YOU'LL GET THE RESULTS (back to top)

If you are a real estate investor, odds are you have thought about having a web site that would be where sellers go for information about selling to you. You might also use it to sell what you own. How do you get your own web site?

If you start from scratch, it could look like a third grade attempt. If you hire an expert, it could cost $10,000. But wait...there are canned web sites for investors. Are you using one? Do they give it to you for free so they can run ads on it? Please go to http://www.zick.com/Web_site_survey.shtml and complete our brief survey. We will send you the answers we get (without disclosing names). Other than the names, you will get all the details. Readers will get a summary.

MORE ON INVESTOR WEB SITES...

So many real estate investors are setting up web sites. This allows them to buy cheaper ads, sending buyers, sellers and people who might place a mortgage with them to a web site where lots of information is available. To put that much information in an ad would cost a fortune. (As an example, I have www.zickhomeloans.com as one of my business web sites. You can go there to get a loan or go to "Join WLG" at the bottom to get paid as a loan originator.

I have actually, in another life* as a marketing consultant, done a lot of consulting on web sites. I looked like a real expert because I had a secret. My business friend, Dr. Ralf Wilson, is most likely the world's best source of web information. A client would ask me a question and I would get the answer on Ralf's site and send it to them and look like an expert. Okay, I am telling you my secrets...

The following will serve two purposes. First, it will be a way to find out about Ralf. Go to his seminars, buy his books and tapes and sign up for what he has, if you feel you need it and can afford it. He comes with my highest recommendation.

Secondly, this article is a good one for anyone thinking about getting a web site. (If you join WLG, you get a $20,000 site for about $250. But if you want one for another business, you most likely will need to start from scratch.) So read the short form of the article and if you like it, click on the long form.

* "in another life"... When real estate had it with the Tax Reform Act of 1986 dip, I started doing seminars for the world's sharpest marketer (so say such folks as Fortune Magazine), Jay Abraham. Hearing Jay and his side kick, Mac Ross, another brilliant marketing expert, taught me a lot. I taught negotiating and sales to business owners for over 15 years at his events here, in Australia and in the UK. From that, a fair amount of consulting sprang forth. All this experience added to my knowledge base for helping real estate investors.

12 WEBSITE DESIGN DECISIONS YOUR BUSINESS OR ORGANIZATION WILL NEED TO MAKE CORRECTLY (OR YOU'LL HAVE TO DO IT ALL OVER WITHIN A YEAR) (back to top)

I believe there are 12 crucial design decisions that site owners face when they go to build a website or initiate a website makeover. In this landmark article I detail those decisions, with the hope that I'll steer you around some of the hidden potholes. Here are the 12 crucial website design decisions you must face:

  1. Determine Your Website's Chief Purpose
  2. Decide Whether to Outsource or Do It Yourself
  3. Divide Your Website into Logical Sections
  4. Develop a Site Navigation System
  5. Give Your Website an Attractive 'Look and Feel'
  6. Build Basic Webpage Templates
  7. Construct Your Site to Be Search Engine Friendly
  8. Write and Fine-tune Focused Content Pages
  9. Incorporate Customer Communication Systems
  10. Create and Test Effective Sales Pages
  11. Conduct Usability Trials and Incorporate Changes
  12. Plan to Maintain Your Site for the Long Haul

This article is designed to be printed out so you can fill in the worksheet sections, share a copy with your website designer for discussion, and -- above all -- make the important website design decisions that will bring you success up the road. By the way, if you like you can place a syndicated version (www.wilsonweb.com/syndicate/) of this article on your website at no charge.

Read the Article
http://www.wilsonweb.com/articles/12design.htm

FILTERING JUNK AND TELLING US WHAT IS ON YOUR MIND (back to top)

We had a reader say that our fine newsletter ended up in the "Trash" due to a Yahoo Spam Filter. Shame on Yahoo! This is good stuff! If you have the same problem, spam filters are aggressive these days so it is hard to say what triggered his Yahoo filter on this one. If you don't want to have to dig our newsletters out of the Trash, tell your junk filter that "[Zick]" is not junk! Then tell it to put all email with "[Zick]" in the subject line into a new "Barney" folder.

For most of you, if you go to tools, you will find a place to set up "rules" for what happens to emails. Start there. Or, on the other hand, if you are tempted to trash our newsletters before you finish reading to the end, tell us what you would like us to change in this or our more fact-filled Advice for the Impatient Investor newsletter.

Here is a link to a feedback form for you to use when responding. Go ahead -- let your comments rip! We can take it. www.zick.com/feedback_survey.shtml

I think it is great that you read this far. Tell you what... Go to www.zick.com/FeedbackThankYouGift.shtml and you can have a copy of an actual modification of a contract I recently used. It covers taking a property subject to the loan, dealing only as a buyer's agent, and it involved taking title in a Land Trust. It might be interesting to you and it is our thank you gift for being such a loyal reader!

BZ

DON'T MISS US IN FLORIDA (back to top)

We will be all over Florida in September and October (go to www.zick.com/upcomingsemform.shtml for all of the details). We will have two one day events...Saturday, September 13th in Broward County and Sunday, October 6th in Orlando. Same topics both times: "How to Get Started and Stay Motivated" (creating your real estate investing business plan) in the morning and "Wealth Building with Real Estate Options" in the afternoon. Call us for details today at 800 677-3253!

The Fine Print...(back to top)

We will publish one newsletter like this one, the REIT Report, (containing Real Estate Education Industry News and a lot of personal opinions) and one called Advice for the Impatient Investor, approximately once a month. (However, keep in mind, our newsletters are free so don't get upset if we skip one occasionally!)

Advice for the Impatient Investor has been published for thirteen years (but, not in a row). The next issue should be out about August 1st. The REIT Report will go out on or about August 15th.

Folks smarter than us told us to say: We take no responsibility for the accuracy of the postings. All contents of the postings are the responsibility of the posting party. The foregoing material is strictly for informational purposes only and does not provide legal, financial, accounting or investing advice or services. Use of any of the foregoing information does not create a client relationship. You should not act on the information provided without seeking legal, accounting and tax counsel of your choice.

We reserve the right to terminate the subscription of anyone at any time.

Copyright note: Submission of an email message or art work affirms that you are authorized to and have given Bernard Zick, et al, non-exclusive permission to reprint the content of your message in all forms, electronic or otherwise, in all languages throughout the world.

Copyright 2003 by Real Estate Investors Training Corporation.
ISSN # 0272-8559

All Rights Reserved, no reprints to other email lists or websites without Bernard Zick's permission. You have permission and are encouraged to forward this e-newsletter in its entirety to a friend!

Check out our website: www.zick.com

To MANAGE YOUR SUBSCRIPTION, please send e-mail to: newsletter@zick.com

Please type, 'change account information' in the subject line if you have an address change or if you no longer are interested in receiving this e-newsletter, type 'no thanks' in the subject line of your e-mail.

Notice: Out of thousands of people who subscribe to our e-newsletters, only 12 have decided to opt-out. However, we're currently experiencing some difficulties with maintaining their opt-out status. So, if you are one of those folks who asked to be deleted from our mailing list, please send e-mail to newsletter@zick.com and we will delete you manually until we get this problem fixed!

Our lists are NEVER sold.

Article submissions and questions are welcome and should be sent to amy@emcii.com.

Mail to: P.O. Box 6339 Kingwood, TX   77325-6399

Phone: 281-358-0409 Fax: 281-358-6591 Email: amy@emcii.com Website: www.zick.com