Building Rapport for Note Brokers

Rapport (noun) \ra-‘por\ : relation marked by harmony, conformity, accord, or affinity

We’ve all been in this situation: A spouse or a friend asks you to attend a Christmas party, a wedding, or a company picnic where you know absolutely nobody. Worse yet, your link to familiarity heads to the bathroom and leaves you…totally…alone… Read more

Note Buyers – Linked In or Whacked Out?

LinkedIn has been called the Facebook for businesspeople. I have a profile there, but I rarely check it, and requests to make a connection (similar to ‘friending’ someone on Facebook) from people I know may sit for months before I notice them. Nonetheless, I occasionally browse my ‘groups’ to see if anything of interest is happening and if people are really putting deals together online.

What I’ve found is a tiny bit of e-commerce and a mega-dose of megalomania. There are a few people who are ‘real players’ trying to expand their reach and grow their database, and many more who, poetically speaking, doth hurl vast quantities of excrement on thee olde message boards to see what might sticketh. Almost as bad are the self-proclaimed message board cops, who apparently have nothing better to do than question the credentials of everyone else who posts.

The former (excrement hurlers, or EH for short) are Read more

Guru Rhymes With Screw You

gu·ru [goo-roo] – noun

Any person who counsels or advises; mentor, or a leader in a particular field.

Based on the definition above, there are several of us in the seller-financed industry that might be considered ‘gurus’. After all, we post helpful articles on websites such as this one, and offer guidance to those who ask follow up questions. We teach at industry conventions and have decades of experience buying, selling, and/or brokering real estate related cash flow notes.

However, the present-day guru differs greatly from us on that last point. In fact, I have never transacted business with a single self-proclaimed ‘guru’ selling their wares today. This is because ‘gurus’ don’t have Read more

Let’s Be Brutally Honest About Real Estate Notes

There is a difference between being honest and being brutally honest. For example, if I ask my wife if my new sweatshirt makes my gut look big, an honest answer might be “Kinda”. A brutally honest answer would be “No, your gut makes your gut look big.”

As someone who has taken literally thousands of phone calls from note holders, I’ve always been honest, but I’ve never been brutally honest, until today. Read more

MY FRIEND, THE INTERNET – Real Estate Notes

A friend keeps you from making poor decisions, is there in your times of need, and can be a good source of information. Based on this criteria, I consider the internet to be my friend. Yes, the cold, impersonal, most definitely non-human internet has my back. Best thing is, it can and will be your friend, too. Read more

Non-Performing Real Estate Notes: Trash or Treasure?

A long, long time ago in a kingdom far, far away lived an efficiently-functioning secondary market.

Performing real estate notes were bought and sold, commissions were made, and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men made a great living and even Read more