So, I am sitting here watching Extreme Resorts on TV and watching all of these wealthy people have as much fun as they possibly can.  I sit and grind my teeth in awe and in anger as I am sure that these people dont try harder than I do.  Then I changed the channel and this dumb blonde is talking about her 8000 sq ft house and the bathroom bigger than one of my condos.  I am happy for these people because someone in their line had to put in the work for them to be able to live this life.  Great job to that person.   I hate these people, I constantly try to acknowledge that behind all of these rich people that someone had to put in the work for them but I can not stand these people.  I rack my brain everyday about trying to give my family a better life and all these people worry about is ... 08/12/2009

Hello Real Estate Entrepreneurs!  SO I was trying to figure out a way to watch some of the fights on UFC 101 last night, I wanted Ken Flo to get his ass beat by BJ Penn!  Which he did, so that was great. I am writing this though because of the dream I had last night.  This dream was absolutely amazing.  Everything that I wanted to happen, happened in my dream last night.  What do you think that means? I let an old man move into one of my apartments the other day.  He told me he would fix stuff and cut the grass and he actually did the things he said he was going to in the dream.  The tenants all paid on time and I was making consistent money on the property.  My little girls listened and didnt upset me and my wife was always happy.  This dreamland was amazing!!!! I made as much money as... 08/10/2009

Okay, so I know that is a different title than we are used to but I just need to express how pertinent and undoubted belief in the flow of the universe and abundance really is.  Recently, I was questioning the direction of the business and told myself if a much needed refinance is supposed to happen it will.  I have a 70+% debt to income ratio as I am sure most of you do as we write everything off.  I got approved for a 70% refinance on a property I own.  The appraisal came back too low as everything is in this economy.  The bank still approved the refi and the world makes sense again. This happens to me all of the time.  The last notable situation was a couple of years ago when nothing was going my way and out of the blue in quite a time of despair, I received an unexpected IRS check f... 07/30/2009

REAL ESTATE ENTREPREURS HELLO! Well, first of all if you havent watched my new baby please watch the video blog below as she is the cutest. I just wanted to hit on a couple key points today.  I wanted to tell you how great of a job you are doing and how proud I am to have you read my thoughts.  Just by reading this, I know that you are just like me in the fact that we want more out of life and we are willing to work for it.  If that isnt a description of you, PLEASE STOP READING THIS!!! I have an appreciation like no other for people like us.  I just hope you realize that we are in the worst economy since the GREAT DEPRESSION right now and if you are still standing tall with your own business, keep it going!  When the market and economy turns we will be an unstoppable force.  Here in Ch... 07/21/2009

For your viewing pleasure 07/20/2009

Well, I am writing this one today as we all know that this recession is hurting all of us.  I will tell you as a landlord of ten rental units we are hurting as well.  Renters think that landlords have all of the money in the world and that the landlord just takes this money and flies off to Aruba with it on the weekends.  Well, I am going to St. Croix for the weekend but it is on the AF Reserves dime.  The truth of the matter is that most landlords only make $100-200 per month on their rental properties if that.  I have run into and even have my own rentals that just break even and even negative cash flow on the mortgage payment.  Most people just allow these to fall through to foreclosure while the respectable people try to make up the difference. The difficult part of this is that in ... 07/16/2009

Well we are going through with it and here it is.  Wish us luck with the new brokerage!  Check out the logo and send us some new business.     Hope you like it, if not, keep it to yourself as this is it for now anyways.  Have a great Fathers day all of you real estate entrepreneurs.  I just ordered our first shipment of signs today.   Check out the original post at www.investingrocks.com and our business site at www.CharlestonRealEstateInvesting.com Thanks a bunch 06/20/2009

So this is a very important post to me and I wanted to go briefly over it with you.  Over the past few years, I have had the opportunity to meet with some very important people and these meetings have been vital in my growth as an adult as well as a real estate entrepreneur.  At one time, I was getting personal advice from a man who won the entrepreneur of the year award by a major entrepreneurial organization, had exposes in upper end magazines, and was an overall great individual.  I am still in contact with a President of a local bank  and was on an acquaintance relationship with the Lt Governor of the State.  How did all that happen? Well, people like me and I am a helpful person.  Eventually, it just ended up happening and I am very grateful for all of my experiences.  One of the g... 06/18/2009

Well, here we go again Charleston Real Estate Investors.  This is the real estate entrepreneur, and I am going to give you just a short tidbit on a fun and easy way to save some money.  At my house we have an allowance account.  Just like you give your kids or you remember getting we put a bit of money in our account every week separate from all of our money and we build up the excess very quickly.  We like to spend a good bit and we put $300 in our account every week.  That is not saying that we couldnt easily live off of $200-$250 per week.  Even dropping to $250 per week would save another $200 per month. For us $300 allows us to spend $75 on gas between both vehicles, $100 on groceries, and $125 on miscellaneous.  We can go to the movies at $20 a bunch of times, or go to the movies ... 06/16/2009

Here is a great topic ladies and gentlemen.  Are you ready to become more productive?  If you are like me than you sometimes have a problem with productivity.  Some people call it, "spinning your wheels", "moving fast and getting no where", or even "Im working as hard as I can and not making it happen".  Well, these are all words of a frustrated individual and I am going to share with you what  sometimes helps me to get through these times. First of all, realize that this happens to everyone.  We are entrepreneurs and we face struggles.  If this was for everyone than we wouldnt be the exceptions we would be the rule and we would have to find something else to do, right? Now that you realized, calmed down, and are thinking clearly; be honest with yourself.  What is it that you arent doin... 06/13/2009

Have you ever asked yourself this question?  As an entrepreneur, a real estate entrepreneur, I used to ask myself this question all of the time.  It wasnt until recently that I finally figured it out.  People have talked to me and given their points of view and countless of people have asked me.  Until I figured it out I was kind of oblivious to the simplicity of this answer. First of all, lets talk a bit about you and how you are feeling if you still find yourself asking this question a lot.  Well, keep in mind that I used to always have this feeling so I know what you are going through.  Realize how you would feel if you had a boss to answer to as well.  Not going to happen is it? Do you find yourself prospecting until you are sick of it?  As much as you love your job you should be do... 06/10/2009

Attention Charleston Real Estate Investors.  Here comes a real estate company designed for you.  As a real estate investor and a Realtor for the past few years I have just past the Realtor's Brokers exam and am now qualified to open my own brokerage.  As we all know that there is no price fixing as real estate professionals, I have been toying with some ideas for cost on your listings.  Right now I am thinking of new "flat fee" listings.  Tell me what you think.  I am also considering a pay by the hour type of situation as well.  This could be very beneficial for you, couldnt it?  Well, lets go into a bit of why I am adding the brokerage to our company.  We do some investing in properties and obviously we will save some money on commissions.  The main reason is so that I am able to list... 06/07/2009

Just as it is written, Google Real Estate Entrepreneur, and you will see that www.investingrocks.com is on the first page.  Pretty exciting if you ask me.  Especially if you think that we have been doing this for long.  We haven't, we have been promoting the website seriously for only a couple of weeks.  I have read a couple of books that emphasized the importance of keywords, domain names, and content.  I guess we have a pretty good setup of them. Some other great things have been happening for us lately.   Today, I passed my real estate broker's exam to turn my investment company into a real estate brokerage.  This is a huge step forward for us.  It seems that as we work and follow our intuitions we take everything in stride and do very well.  I am quite happy with life right now.  In... 06/03/2009

Charleston Real Estate Im Pretty sure we can use this pic if the watermark is still on it   What is the difference between a 110 and 220 electric socket?  Well, 220 hurts much more.  what is the importance of the p trap on all of your drains?  Without a p-trap toxic gases can come back up through your pipes and hurt people.  These are just a few of the many things I have learned over the years of renovating my own properties. Working with the permit office and zoning boards is definitely an art to master.  We tried to get one property rezoned for 6 months before we finally got it to closing.  Pretty lengthy transaction, wasnt it?  In this business, you have to learn as you go.  There is nothing that a book is going to show you over experience.  For one thing that book wasnt written by p... 06/02/2009

Our "Evening with the Experts" returns with a two of our Members showcasing what they do..and how they can help you! Anita Wright, owner of Figures4You will talk about * What kind of business structure do you need?    (C-Corp, Sub-chapter S, LLC, Partnerships, etc) * How to get a Tax ID number * The three biggest mistakes that new investors make    ...and much, much more. David Floyd, owner of Stanley Steemer, will showcasehis carpet cleaning, Emergency Water Damage, & Flooring service and will share: * The biggest mistake that homeowners make when they   have busted pipes. *  Easiest way to clean tile & grout PLUS! A "Mystery Expert" that you will hate yourself ifyou miss hearing! This is an "Open Meeting"- The person who brings the mostguests will win a very special door prize! Regist... 06/01/2009

Attention: Charleston Real Estate Investors I was just wanting to give you my thoughts on how we operate.  I was writing this to talk with some prospective members as we begin to grow.  It is a compilation of what I have learned to be some of the best attributes as well as some of the things that I want in people.  Being a part of our team is far beyond a job or working for someone.  Here are some of the things that I wrote down Start off by saying that the prospect is probably not a match for our team.  We need to say this because we are in need of certain types of people.  Most people wont fit into our team and there should be no hard feelings from the beginning. This is not a job, it is a lifestyle.  Now I dont expect people to do this at the level that my wife and I do because somet... 05/31/2009

The Charleston Real Estate Investors Association will host their monthly CashFlow 101 Tournament on Tuesday May, 26th 2009 at Shoneys on Rivers Ave. North Charleston, SC    CashFlow 101 is Robert Kiyosaki's educational board game that teaches Accounting, finance, and investing at the same time...and makes learning fun! "On a recent evening I bought into a limited partnership, flipped a bed and breakfast for a quick profit, tripled my money on "OK4U" pharmaceutical stock. I also got downsized from my teaching job, bought a duplex and had a baby. After all that, I managed to get out of the proverbial rat race." - Sarah Max, CNN/Money Senior Writer Our current CashFlow 101 Champion, Ramiro Murguia, will be on hand to see if he can defend his title.   Guests are welcome ~ Admission is FREE~... 05/26/2009

Alright Charleston Real Estate Investors So I got a call this morning from a guy that wanted to rent an apartment from me, actually I got a call from two people who wanted to rent from me.  One person had a solid job and wanted to rent the property that I had helped the tenant get her lights back on.  I hope that was a smart decision.  I really believe it was what the universe wanted me to do.  Since you dont know the situation, I had a tenant that was behind on her rent because she is in real estate and well lets face it, it is slow right now.  She spent all of her money catching her rent up with me.  I accepted it and went on my way.  I then called to get my name added to the electric bill so that my daughter could go to a better school district.  I found that the power was off.  This... 05/25/2009

Wow!  So how can I start this one, it is definitely difficult to talk about but here goes.  This is for you Charleston Real Estate Investors, we have tried time and time again to make this work and have failed time and time again.  We are trying again as this business is growing much too large to be run just by husband and wife.  My wife, Audrey and I, have been running BSO for the past couple of years and we have undergone quite a few changes.  Not only in our business but in the type of people that we have become.  About to have a baby and already with a four year old we have asked my unemployed Dad to come down to act as a buyer for us.  My Dad worked with me when I first opened the business during the time I like to call overleveraging and living a lie.  You see when I started I did... 05/24/2009

Just like the title says it, I have just begun a campaign to build quite  a web presence.  My thoughts are that if I am able to build a strong enough web presence, my marketing will be more on autopilot.  I would like to get to a point of 100,000 twitter followers, readers, hits to my blog monthly.  I started yesterday and have done pretty good so far.  Let me tell you what I have done so far and what my plans are. First of all, I went out and bought a couple of books from Barnes and Nobles.  I am sure that all of this information can be found online but I wanted it all in a centralized place.  That seems more beneficial to me than searching the web for half true information.  I bought the book from Problogger, not sure what it is called right now but a great book.  I also bought buildi... 05/24/2009