This if for all of those that may not know about Commercial Real Estate and why it is so lucrative. This is also one of those deals the we come across all of the time but this one is actually in the “pretty darn good” category.

Because this is my sandbox, I am going to change the rules on my 21.5% challenge too. I am going loan myself another $150,000 of virtual money and take my my portfolio up to $250,000. Let’s say I took an equity line out on my virtual house in order to do this or I used my IRA. Because I am going to plunk down $140,000 of my virtual money and do this very real deal. (more…)

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you already know that I don’t hold much back You also know that I have the utmost confidence in your ability to manage your own finances. You just need a little help. You also need to not follow the herd as it blindly goes over the cliff. You need to do things differently if you want above average returns. Besides, average is far overrated.

Beware, if you continue to read this, you will never not be able to see where you are going or feign ignorance again. Not that you would or course but in order to see where things are going, you need a good road map, a compass, and some binoculars to see what is ahead, and then you need a blueprint to build your investment vehicle.

Here is a tool that both gives you a Micro and the Macro view on what is going on in a number of markets mainly housing, bonds, and mortgages. These also foretell a lot about the state of the overall economy.

I bet you have never seen this mentioned anywhere else. It is one that I have been using for years and it is called The Mortgage Grapevinee. It is about and for people in the Mortgage Business.

It is worth taking a look and reading some of the posts there on a regular basis. It is by far the most accurate source for seeing what is going on in the Mortgage arena today. Because it is raw, you have to take things with a grain of salt, but it gives you unedited data on what is going on in the the housing and mortgage business and it is the real deal and not some watered down interpretation by a talking head.

There are some lively political discussions as well. You can also get another take on those ignorant brutes called mortgage brokers that the media so readily vilifies for taking advantage of the poor people that signed 86 pages of documentation on their loans and yet proclaim not to know that their payment might go up. LOL

I would guess that most of you have heard of Private Mortgage Lending or PML, but unless you are involved in it, I am willing to bet that you did not realize how large of a market that it has become, nor just how lucrative it is for the players involved in it.

While this is a hidden underground market, it is estimated that it is in the hundreds of billions of dollars. It is big enough that the intrepid Billionaire Richard Branson of Virgin fame just started a company to service it. Think there is no money in it? I will have a more detailed story on that shortly. (more…)

Why are we here? Not the big, big question, but the smaller one, Why Am I An Investor?

Well, I have been thinking about it and here is what I came up with and see if you agree.

“As an investor, I want to make as much money as fast as I can ethically, and repeat this formula consistently on a regular basis for the rest of my life”.

How is that? Does that about cover it? Well if it does, then you came to the right place. I have been on a quest for the above since I was in 3rd grade when I started selling combs and Christmas cards door to door. (more…)

Opportunities abound in Chaos and Kevlar Umbrellas

I recently wrote this for another website I work on but, I felt that it really has much more relevance for us investors. This was originally published for readers of the Muse Blueprint which helps people start their own business or want to take an existing one to the next level.

If you listen to the news and I suggest that you don’t very often, you would think that the sky is falling with the economy. Well, parts of it actually are but it does not have to be so for you. I suggest that you think of yourself as the person selling Kevlar Umbrellas, like I do.

While you should be aware of economic trends such as the US dollar’s values falling like a rock with no end in site, it does open up opportunities.

I will give you just a couple of examples. As gas prices keep going up (and they will but more on that later) , it is going to make locally made products and services more competitive against those that are not local.

Do you have a product or service that can save people from driving for instance? Do you know where one is to invest in?

Here are two of my Muses or other Businesses that I have recently picked up (another strategy I will cover is buying small businesses) that do exactly that, www.888360Pixs.com and www.888EZToOwn.com . The first is a service that provides pictures, virtual tours, and Videos of Real Estate, Boats, Cars and just about everything else. The second provides FREE Real Estate Advertising.

Ok, time out here. Here is the Definition of a Muse from my Book, The Muse Blueprint.

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