This article is excerpted in part from Steve Cook’s ebook,  “Flipping Like A Pro.”

One of the most critical steps for a new investor is finding a competent real estate agent who understands your needs as an investor and will work hard for you.  This article attempts to address that need.

Understanding the Agent

In most cases, you will have to train a Realtor to work for you.  Real estate agents are generally good at what they do, but most of them do not deal with investors and our methods are foreign to them.  This does not make them bad people, nor does it make them stupid.  Typically, an agent makes more money dealing with pretty houses and people with good credit, so this is the area where they become experts.  If you can find an open-minded agent and teach them about what you do, then you can put together a mutually beneficial relationship.  But first you have to respect the agent’s perspective.

An agent gets their license and starts selling real estate to make a living.  They aren’t doing it for charity.  They only get paid if someone buys a home and settles on it.  A lot of work goes into a putting a deal together.  Agents have been burned time and time again by investors who do not produce.  Many so-called investors have real estate agents scour through listings, make appointments to see houses, show them around town, get them back into houses a second time, and never make an offer.  Many investors who do make offers produce offers which are so ridiculous that if the agent knew this up front, then they probably would have never agreed to work with the investor.  Then there are investors who get offers accepted but never settle on the deal.  So the agent, who has about 30-40 hours worth of work into a transaction, will never get paid for their time.  How many of you would want to go to work for a week and then not get paid?

What to Expect from Your Agent

You need to recognize the fact that you are going to be looking at many houses and buying few.  You don’t need the agent to drive you all around town, pull up comps on every house you are going to see, or present offers on which you can’t follow through.  This is a waste of their time and yours.  The only thing that I expect from my agents is to provide me with listings and submit my offers.  Occasionally I will ask them to show me a home or pull comps for me if I can’t find anything on my own. With few exceptions, you need nothing from your agent but for them to give you listings and submit your offers.

In terms of receiving listings, I expect to get updated listings at least weekly and sometimes daily, especially if I am in an active buying mode.  I typically have them pull a list of fixer-uppers for me as well as a list of foreclosures.  This list should include every single home that is available, not just the homes that the agent thinks are a good deal.

In terms of submitting offers, I go through every listing and in some cases look at every single home.  Then I will make an offer on every single one of them regardless of the list price.  I construct my offer based upon my formula and present it.  It doesn’t matter if they are asking $100,000 for a property and my formula tells me to offer $50,000.  I offer $50,000 and the seller says yes or no.  You need to make the agent understand that this is your strategy during your initial meeting as well as the fact that yes, sometimes a motivated seller will drastically reduce their price.

For example, I once purchased a home that was bank owned and needed a good bit of work.  The bank was asking $93,500, but that was all the home was worth after it was fixed up.  So I called the listing agent and told her that I wanted the home, but I felt the asking price was crazy.  She agreed and told me that $93,500 was the price at which the bank told her to list it.  Nevertheless, I told her to submit an offer on my behalf for $55,000.  Lo and behold, the next day it was accepted.  In fact, I was a little upset.  They didn’t even counter my offer, so I felt I could have offered less.

On another occasion, I offered $45k for a home and the seller (a bank) declined.  A month later, I offered $40k for the home and the seller declined.   A month later the seller reduced their price to $39,900, so I offered $34k and the seller declined.  Two months later and four months after my initial offer, the seller reduced the price to $34,900 and I offered $29k.  This time they accepted, taking $16k less than my original offer of $45k.

A third example involves a property that I bought for $1,000 which was listed at $35,000.

All of these were bank owned properties.  It makes no sense to me why they do what they do, and I’m not going to try to figure it out.  I’m just going to enjoy the good fortunes that come my way.

How to Find a Good Agent

When interviewing Realtors, you need to have a good idea of what you expect from them so that you can explain to them exactly what you need.  They need to know exactly what their role is going to be if they are working for you.  I simply tell new agents the following:

“I’m looking for a new real estate agent to help me, someone who can provide me with lists of fixer uppers and foreclosures on a daily basis.  It won’t be necessary for you to run me around town to see all of the houses.  Occasionally, I may need to get inside of a home, but not very often.  I may also need comps once in a while, but mostly I’ll just expect you to submit my offers for which I will provide all of the terms up front.  I will probably make about 20 offers per ______.   My offers will be low and most will be turned down, but I usually get one or two.  Since you won’t have to work to hard for these sales, would you be interested in working with me?”  Most Realtors will say yes.  The ones who usually decline are those who are mega producers and already busy enough.

It is not difficult to find a real estate agent, however it can be difficult to find one that you like who will also work with you.  The first thing I suggest is for you to look for someone whose location is convenient for you.  You will have to see them regularly and you don’t want to be traveling out of your way all of the time.

How to Work Well with Your Agent

The key to working well with an agent is for you to respect their time.  Real estate agents are just like you and me.  They do what they do to make money.  Their time is money.  If you have an agent run you all around town to look at houses, spend hours preparing contracts, hours on the phone with other agents, hours pulling comps (we will discuss comparable sales later in the course) and hours pulling listings but you don’t buy a home, then the agent loses.  They get nothing for all the time that they spent in good faith, hoping that you will buy a property.  You need to be aware of this and respectful of it.  Most investors who go to a real estate agent are beginners/wannabes.  They never buy a home, yet the real estate agent invested a lot of time and effort into them.  As a result, on the whole real estate agents have little success with investors and therefore tend to stay away from them.  You have to be different.  Be considerate of your agent’s time and produce.

It is also important that you understand your role in relation to that of the real estate agent.  All too often, investors expect real estate agents to do all of the work and to find them the good deals.  If real estate agents knew how to find the good deals, they would buy them for themselves.  It is your job to find the good deals.  The only job of the real estate agent is to assist you by providing you with the information that you need to determine whether or not they are good deals.

Be Honest with Your Agent

When dealing with a new real estate agent, be sure to be totally honest with them.  If you have never done a deal before, you should walk into their office and tell them that you are a beginning investor and would like to do “X” deals per year.  Don’t exaggerate what you do.  If you only intend to do 3 deals within the next twelve months, then tell them that.

Most agents will be pretty happy if you buy and sell three homes through them.  They will collect 6 more commission checks that they would not have collected otherwise.  If you exaggerate, your inexperience is bound to show through and you are sure to lose all credibility with the agent and anyone that they know.

A real estate agent will be more inclined to work with you and be happy about it if they know everything about your situation up front.  If you enlist their services through deception and they discover shortly thereafter that you have never done a deal, you will probably never hear from them again.

Overall, real estate agents possess a good heart like anyone else, and they like to see people succeed.  Moreover, they would like to be a part of your success story, so be honest with them and you will see how much further it will take you.

Concerns of a Real Estate Agent

Real estate agents need to make a living.  They do not earn anything unless they sell homes.  Whether they sell homes or not, they have expenses that need to be covered and they can be rather costly.  If a real estate agent is going to dedicate time to working extended hours with an investor, they are going to want to make sure that it is going to pay off.  If you take up a lot of an agent’s time but never buy a home, you can expect for the service from that agent to drop off significantly.

Real estate agents are people just like you and I.  They became a real estate agent to make a living.  Many become real estate agents in the hope of making a really good living.  They are trained and taught to do their jobs well, however their training does not involve dealing with investors.  Most agents are very good at taking buyers with good credit, and putting them into nice homes at top dollar.  This is where they make the most money, and why they will be able to help you with selling your homes.  It is also what they are taught to do.

When you approach a real estate agent you will most likely be asking them to do something that they have no experience with.  Do not just assume that they will know what you are talking about.  You need to be patient with them as they learn, and most likely they will need to be patient with you as you learn.  However, they will be able to help you immediately when you finish your homes and want to sell them for top dollar.

It is important that you have a good understanding of how everything is going to work out, and that you convey that to your agent.  If you lay everything on the table up front then your agent will not be upset with you a week or two down the road because you were up front and honest with them.

Real Life Experience

I have never had a problem with finding real estate agents to work with me.  I can walk into any real estate agency and find an agent.  First, I sit down with the person on floor duty and ask them a couple of questions about their experience.  For example, “How long have you been an agent?” and, “Have you ever worked with investors?”  Then I ask them if they are opposed to working with investors and listen to their response. Afterward, I go into my pitch, telling them that I am an investor who buys 3-5 houses per month and sells one house per month on average.  Then, I ask if they would be interested in handling my purchases and listings for me, always getting a yes to that question.

Shortly thereafter, I give them something else to get excited about.  I tell them that I don’t expect them to take me out to show me houses (at this point, their faces usually light up).  Next, I tell them what I do expect of them.  I want listings on a regular basis and I want them to make all of my offers.  Furthermore, I would like to list all of my finished homes with them if everything works out.

Then I let them know that I will usually make about 30-50 offers per month (you should tailor this number to meet your needs.  Not everyone buys as many homes as I do) in order to get 3-5 accepted, and I ask if that will be a problem.  This usually isn’t something they like to hear, but they realize that they don’t have to do anything else but make offers, so they agree to it.

Then I tell them that the reason I only get about 10% of my offers accepted is because I offer very low.  I let them know that most will be turned down, but some will be accepted and those are the ones that we want.

I also explain some of the things that I have learned when it comes to dealing with banks.  Most banks pay real estate agents a minimum commission (as opposed to a percentage), so if you are making low offers your agent can still expect to make decent money.  This is another plus.  They like to hear that you want them to make money.  I bring this up often and tell them that I value their time and won’t waste it.  Be considerate and they will be loyal.

Finally, don’t forget to talk about listing all of your finished homes with them.  If you decide to go the Realtor route to market your properties, this is where they would make the most money.  It is easy for an agent to get top dollar for a nice home.

To start flipping homes like a pro yourself, get the course in it’s entirety HERE!

In 1973, 20 years later, the students from that same class were contacted again. Researchers had the former students complete detailed financial summaries of what they had achieved up to that point.

When the researchers compared the results of what each student had achieved against whether they had written goals 20 years previous, they were startled to find an incredible fact – the 3% of students that originally had written goals were now worth more financially than the other 97% of the students combined!

While measurement of financial success was the easiest measure, they also found that the 3% were more satisfied in their lives and ultimately enjoyed a higher quality of life in their relationships, health and careers.

Brian Tracy, one of the world’s experts on human behavior and achievement, has this to say about setting goals:

“No other quality, such as environment, appearance, grade level or family background, is nearly as important to personal success as the habit of personal goal-setting. It is intense goal-orientation that marks the winners in every single area. Unless we have goals, we simply go around in circles in our lives. We go nowhere. When we set goals, we go straight and true. We develop purpose, we develop direction, we develop focused and channeled energy. We develop more in a short time with goals that we could accomplish in years without them.”

At LIFEonaire, we know the importance of specific goal setting.  We call it developing your vision.  When given a level playing field (In this case, they all had a degree from Yale), the 12 people with a vision for their lives outperformed the other 388 COMBINED!

As this study also shows, developing your vision does far more than help you get ahead financially.  Your vision helps you live your life abundantly.  These 12 Yale graduates were experiencing the freedoms and abundant lives of a LIFEonaire.

Our passion is to help people not only develop a vision for their lives, but to help them live it!  We see lives changed all the time by the power of having a written vision.  If you want to take the first step and develop YOUR vision, you can now do it from the comfort of your own home!  With our 16-week “Get-A-Life” home study course, we go through a step-by-step process to help you develop a specific vision for your life.

Take the first step to living YOUR life abundantly and get yours now!

I know that when you are getting started in this business, talking with potential team members can be very intimidating.  My advice has always been to keep on trying until you get it.  In time you’ll get better at the art of conversing with team members, and believe me, this is the case for everyone.  Even someone who is already a good conversationalist to begin with will grow in this area.

This is a skill that you should learn to develop with all team members.  For the purpose of this article, I’m going to focus on conversing with lenders because it is the one area that I’ve seen many people challenged with as of late.

Recently I’ve seen many people blow potential relationships with lenders.  As I delve into what happened, I find that they are failing at what is really a very easy relationship to build.  I’m astonished at some of the foolish things that they tell me they say.

Some don’t say enough, some say too much, and some say all the wrong things… and then they wonder why no one wants to deal with them.

If you have bad credit and you don’t pay your bills you have to understand that you are at a disadvantage when it comes to dealing with lenders.  You are not their prime candidate.  All too often, new investors don’t take this into consideration and their conversation goes something like this:

Hello Mr. Lender.  I’m interested in becoming a high power real estate investor in the area.  I have never done a deal and I’m looking to establish a relationship with a lender who is willing to come along side me.  My credit is trashed, I was evicted from my last apartment and my boss fired me last week for coming in late for the 3^rd time this week, but it’s not my fault, it’s my girlfriends fault, if it weren’t for her I wouldn’t have these problems.  Do you think you can work with me?

This is not going to work too well.  It is YOUR job to sit down and figure out what it is that you have to offer to the relationship.  It is YOUR job to package yourself in the best light.  You are not to lie about your situation, you are not to hide your situation, but you are supposed to tell a bank why they should deal with you, not why they shouldn’t.

Now, this isn’t always an issue for everyone.  Many of you can get over the first hurdle when dealing with a lender -- your credit is not a problem.  However, their programs may not be exactly what you need and you might like for them to do something different.  Let me share with you a recent example of someone trying to get a bank to offer 100% financing to their buyers.

Before I go into the details, you have to understand the way banks think.  Let’s throw some things out there.

Banks want to lend money; it’s how they make money.

Banks like when someone puts money down; the loan is safer.

Banks like things being a certain way and get uncomfortable with wild ideas.

So, if you look at these three things and you come into a bankers office and tell them that you have an idea of how you can get your buyers into homes with 100% financing and you want the bank to do it, you have just hit two sore spots for them.  You may know EXACTLY what you want, but to dump it all on the table at one time is going to scare the lenders away.  Instead you need to spoon feed your ideas to them.  Of course, this usually happens after you have developed rapport with them.  Once they know you by your first name, you can then ask them if they have a minute to discuss an idea with you.

During your appointment, you can tell a story leading up to your request.  For instance you may say; “You know, I’ve been thinking of a way to help people buy a home with little to no money down, and I have a couple of ideas”.  Maybe before you share your ideas, you can ask them; “Has your bank participated in anything creatively to help get deals done?” and let them talk.

They may reveal all kinds of things to you that you can then use as ammunition for your case, but it is VERY IMPORTANT that you listen to what they say.  They may already have done some of the things that you want to propose, or something similar to it.  If they’ve done something similar you can say; “That intrigues me, it sounds similar to one of my ideas, can you share a little more with me about how you pulled that off?”

The key is that you want THEM to help you come up with a solution to your problem.  You want them to be part of the solution.  You may already know the solution that you are seeking, but you want them to help you come up with that solution.  You want to ask a lot of “What if” questions, or “How would you do this” type of questions.  I call this Exploratory Conversation.  You want to have the conversation as if the two of you are exploring possible solutions.  You don’t want to be the arrogant person who already has the solution and telling them the way that things need to be.  It needs to be an idea where they have input with you guiding them toward the solution you are seeking.

I’m not suggesting that you manipulate people.  That is not the case at all.  What I’m suggesting is very relational.  We do it all the time with our spouses.  There was a great scene in the movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” in which the Greek wife acknowledged that the husband was the head of the family, but that the woman was “the neck” that controlled the head.  She was helping her husband to come up with the solutions, and they were solutions that he felt good about because he was part of the process in coming up with it.

So, take your time, get to know your team members and work solutions out.  Walking into a bank and saying; “Do you lend 100% to investors?” is always going to get you a big fat “NO”.  But that doesn’t mean that lenders can’t do 100%.  The same goes for title companies and double closes, and real estate agents willing to do low offers, or work creatively with you.

First, lets get a better understanding of what mold really is.  The purpose of mold is to break down dead materials such as plants, leaves, animal feces, etc…Not all molds are harmful, but some are.  Mold can be found indoors, and outdoors.  It travels through the air that we breathe in the form of spores.  When mold settles on an area that it can grow, it often grows in patches known as colonies.  I can assure you that every single home you will buy and the home that you are currently living in has some mold in it.

Our concern is obviously going to be harmful molds.  I’m not an expert and am not going to teach you what is harmful and what is not.  Instead, I’m going to teach you to fix all the problems from mold.  Where good molds grow, harmful molds can, so it is in your best interest to fix the problem. The good news about mold is that it is a curable problem.  Mold needs moisture, food and a surface to grow on.  Where there is moisture, mold can usually grow, and it is probably the biggest culprit to harmful molds within homes.

Now that you know a little bit about mold, lets talk about how it makes sellers motivated to sell their properties.  People are scared of mold these days.  They are running from it, and if you own a home and discover that it has mold in it, you’d be scared to sell it to just anyone.  People who own homes with mold in them are panicking and they are selling cheap in many cases.  Sellers want to get rid of this problem. If you can buy these homes cheaply, and at a deep enough discount to remedy the mold problem, you can find yourself many more profitable deals.

With that being said, the clean up of mold is not that difficult.  Sometimes it is easier than others, but it can be done during the normal course of a renovation.  In extreme cases where mold has gotten behind walls and into the insulation, you may have to gut the whole home to remove the mold and the environment that it is growing in.  This is something that I do all the time.

It would be wise to have a professional come in after your clean up to certify that your home is free of harmful molds.  Document your whole process.  If they find additional mold, let them clean it and certify that your home is free of harmful molds. Most importantly, you need to stop the cause of what allowed mold to grow.  This is usually a leaking pipe, a leaking roof, or standing water.  Find the source of the moisture that is allowing mold to grow and stop it.

Once you know the process of working with homes that have mold, this can become a niche worth pursuing.  Learn the costs for remediation and factor this into your offers.  Some possible sources for finding mold contaminated properties are insurance companies, HUD, and bank owned properties.

No, the gut rehab is not some new abdominal machine nor is it some type of exercise program to remove that spare tire from around your waist (you all know that if I can master that one I’d be a gazillionaire).  But it is a complete and total rehab of a house.  This is the type of rehab that I prefer to do, and unfortunately when you get into this mode, it’s often hard to get out of it.

Let me take some time to point out why you would do a gut rehab and the benefits of actually doing one.  Hopefully I’ll alleviate some of the concerns that you may have.

1)    Gut rehabs are ideal for older or heavily damaged homes.  The biggest fear that investors have when getting into a rehab is whether or not they are missing something.  “What if something comes up that I can’t see?” is a very common concern.   When doing a gut rehab, you take into consideration everything that can go wrong.  One of my favorite sayings is “when you gut them, they are all the same”

2)    Many contractors like them better-  Plumbers and Electricians would much rather work in a home where the walls are out.  It gives them easy access to the areas that they need to work in, it speeds up their job, therefore lowering their price.  Ask an electrician to rewire a house with the walls closed up, and they may likely decline to take the job on.  If they take it, they’ll charge you a fortune and in the end, you cant’ tell if they did it or not because you can’t see their work.

3)    Your end product ends up like new-  when doing a gut rehab, everything in the house with the exception of the actual framed structure itself is new.  My homes look like brand new when I’m finished with them.  They are very appealing to the buyer who would like to buy a new house, but simply can not afford one.  They are typically bigger then new homes for the same price as well.

4)    They are easy to sell- because of the newness, they are easy to sell, and I’m able to get top dollar.  I can ask top of the market for my homes.  People are willing to pay for quality, and I’m not sure that this is a trend that will ever go away.

5)    Less competition for them because most investors are pursuing cosmetic rehabs.  Many people ask how I buy my houses so cheap.  The gut rehab is one of the reasons why.  I’m buying homes that most others won’t touch.  Believe me when I tell you that the many of the homes that I buy are very ugly when I get them.  Most investors run from them.  I could take my very ugly house, and the comparable home next door which is in relatively good shape, gut them both, and they would both look the same.  They would both cost the same to gut, and the same to put back together.  So by gutting a home, they are all on the same playing field

6)    Easy to estimate your rehab-  When dealing with newer homes that have modern electricity and plumbing, much of the unknown is eliminated.  You know that at worst you may have to do some plumbing and electrical repairs, but redoing these entire systems is very unlikely.  When I refer to newer homes in this sense, I’m referring to most homes built after 1950.  However when you are dealing with older homes, you may wonder if you need to repair or replace the plumbing and electrical.  When doing a gut rehab, it’s a given, you are going to tear it all out and put in new.  Because you are redoing everything, it gets very easy to estimate your rehabs.  If you are doing similar type homes, you simply remember what the expenses were for the last home you did and apply that to the next one.

This is just a brief overview of a Gut Rehab.  Hopefully it opens your eyes to the possibilities.  To find out step-by-step instructions for rehabs get Steve Cook’s new eBook, “Flipping Like A Pro” for just $97!

In an attempt to help my students develop their vision, I ask them the question; “What do you want your children’s lives to look like?”  Not everyone has children yet, and some don’t ever plan on having children so you could ask; “What do you want the lives of the young people in your life to look like?”.  We undoubtedly want more or better then what we have for those that we love who are close to us.  We want their lives to be more.

As I contemplated being the best father and husband that I can be today, it occurred to me that I can do this by teaching them with my own life how to live.  And to be more specific, I came to the realization that I need to show them how to have a concern for others.

As a Christian who desires for my family to be mighty warriors for the cause of Jesus Christ, my children need to see that flame burning within me.  Loving my family, being the best that I can to them, also means loving others and being the best that I can each and every day in the life of other people.  Some of those people may be strangers.

Putting my family first, which is my first ministry, does not mean putting other people off, but instead, with urgency, showing a concern for their souls and teaching my family through my actions.

“The Less I Do, the More I Make.”

Perhaps you’ve heard this phrase before?  Yeah, me too.  I’ve always found it intriguing and inspiring.  And I’d be willing to bet it’s no long shot that most people’s dream is to actually live it – to experience the reality of working less and earning more.

But, as attractive as it is, many don’t believe it’s actually possible.  They tend to view someone making such a claim as “just full of it.”  And let’s be honest, at first glance it does, in fact, seem to be an apparent contradiction of logic to claim the ability to earn more by working less.  But let’s dig a little deeper.

Have you ever noticed how some people seem to be somehow able to accomplish a great deal more than others, and make a lot more money in the process?  I’m talking about people coming from similar circumstances and backgrounds, and with basically the same opportunity.  Some people still seem to rise to the dazzling top, don’t they?

Is it good fortune?  Harder work?  Sheer luck?

In the realm of wealthy, successful people, I would submit that those who were born into it or just “got lucky” are the exceptions.  I believe that a healthy majority of those who are responsible for accomplishing much more, creating more value and building more wealth than the most of the people around them combined, have done so using the exact same number of minutes, hours, and days that you and I have.

So without too much of a stretch one can draw the conclusion that some people seem to have “cracked the code” and know the secret of how to work less and make more than most others around them.

How do I know?  Because I live it.

Anyone who knows me knows I don’t like to go around “tooting my horn”.  It can be hard to tell a successful story without sounding boastful.  But, for what it’s worth, I can testify to you from my own experience that the “less I work, more I make” concept has become absolutely, 100% real for me in my real estate flipping business.  And not only for me, but also for a ton of other folks who, like me, have taken the time to really understand, internalize and apply the life-changing truth behind this deceptively simple idea.

The Lesson of the Pulley

Here’s a hint.  “The secret” has little-if-anything to do with working harder or longer.  It doesn’t take a genius to see that there aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish and earn as much as these people do by simply working harder. And often it’s the hardest working souls who earn the least for their labor.

It has to do with leverage.

Think about a pulley.  It’s a simple wheel mounted to the ceiling.  But lay a piece of rope through a groove in the wheel and suddenly you can lift things you never thought possible.  But it’s not by your own strength, is it?  It’s you, plus the leverage of the pulley that turns you into Superman (or Wonder Woman).

Like so much else I’ve done, I’ve been able train my real estate business to make me money with as little as possible of my own time and leg-work required.  While most of my colleagues are running around all day, working their tails off, “hopping houses” 12-16 hours a day, I do multiple real estate deals from my office, with a phone and a pen.  Sometimes I’ll still do a drive-by, but often I’m deal-making in informed confidence without so much as seeing a house or touching the keys.

What’s My Secret?

You may be asking yourself, “How does this guy buy homes and make money on them without ever touching the keys?”

Are you ready for this?  It’s not that hard. It’s strategic and intentional, but it’s also plain and simple.  My leverage is knowledge + people.

It starts with me having taken the time to get to know my choice neighborhoods intimately.  It’s really not that hard to get to know an area inside and out, and if you are serious about this business you’ll find it enjoyable.  This is a key knowledge-gaining phase and a “must do” first step.  But you really only have to do it once ever.

You see (and pay attention to this), a deal is found in THE NUMBERS, not in the house. And once you know a neighborhood, its values and the types of homes it contains, you’re armed with “insider information” and can buy and sell profitable deals literally from the comfort of your desk.

The second part for me is the people.  More specifically, the people I refer to as my “deal network.”

What is a “deal network”?  It’s a select group of key people I’ve developed powerful relationships with.  It’s a core group of people who would otherwise be my direct competition, but instead are bringing me a steady stream of potential paydays on an ongoing basis.

Why do these people feed me with potential deals day in and day out?  Because I have made sure they understand that I’m willing to do whatever I can to help them be successful, and that doing business with me as a partner is easier and at least as profitable (maybe more so) than competing with me.

I have strategically invested time and energy whenever possible to help them become more successful and profitable in their businesses.  And I’ve made it very clear to them what kinds of deals I’m interested in, and have invested my time and energy in them to help them grow their businesses.

And these people know that I will always do what I say I will do.  They know I WON’T reconsider, and they’ll always have my attention when they bring me solid deals to consider.  Also, they know they can trust me.  I’ll never steal a deal from them, and I’ll never leave them hanging.

How to Buy and Sell Houses in Your Underwear

Ok, I don’t actually do work in just my underwear (most of the time).  But if I did, I wouldn’t miss a beat.  Here’s a quick and dirty look at how it works…

When people from my “deal network” call me, I simply ask them to describe the homes to me and the necessary repairs. Oftentimes I’ll have them email me a picture of the home so that I can look at it from my desk.

Armed with a picture, some information from my network and some websites for checking out comparable sales, I can analyze the deal.  It’s sort of like analyzing a stock purchase.  I can get all of the information that I need from my desk, make a decision and make a purchase.  Like a street-smart day trader, my specific knowledge and connections allow me to do my due diligence pretty quickly, and then simply make a decision to buy or not to buy.

I can email or fax a contract to the seller and then I can turn around and sell it from my desk.  Via the internet I can communicate the deals that I pick up to other investors very quickly and efficiently, and I can have the homes sold before I ever actually settle on them or even touch the keys.

The Power of Strategic Leverage

Now if you follow my path and decide to build a business similar to mine, realize that you may have to actually go to a closing now and then.  But more often than not if you have the right neighborhood knowledge and “deal network” built, you’ll hardly ever have to actually come up with a dime to buy most houses.  I have literally bought and sold homes within 5 minutes while sitting at my desk and made tens of thousands of dollars without touching the keys or writing a check.  The return on these “day trades” is infinite.  And frankly, you can’t say that too often about the stock markets.

-Steve Cook

To learn Steve’s Real Estate Flipping techniques step-by-step, get his new eBook, Flipping Like a Pro.

It wasn’t until I gave my heart to Jesus in January of 2000 that my life was completely turned around.  Purpose and meaning flowed in to my life.  All that was within me that I did not like, that I was not proud of, was cleaned up radically.  My life was transformed, not through my own strength, but with the help and power of Jesus.  My heart was transformed from being me focused to others focused.

For those of you who do not know yet, all of the LIFEonaire principles that we teach are Biblical principles.  Many hear what we teach and think that it is something new, but it is not.  It’s ancient wisdom that I cannot take credit for.  It all comes from the Bible and has been available to us for many years.

Many people who have been closed to the Bible and it’s teachings have embraced LIFEonaire teachings and had their lives transformed.  Through pursuing their life vision, I’ve seen many people find Jesus.  While it brings me great joy when this happens, I must say that I’m not surprised.  From my own personal experiences, I don’t believe that anyone can earnestly seek what it is that they want for their own life and not encounter Jesus.  Some will resist it, I’ve seen it happen many times, but when they finally lay their pride aside (for the ones that do) their lives blossom and they experience life like they had never imagined before.

The bottom line is that the closest we can get to an abundant life without Jesus are simply glimpses of what life can be like with Him.  So it is my hope that as my students earnestly pursue an abundant life that they discover the giver of life, Jesus. It is not my intent to force it upon anyone, I just believe that someone who is honest with themself will eventually come to the conclusion that abundant life is found in Jesus.

I know, often times in the past I’ve said that real estate investing is simple, but it’s not easy.  I’m going against everything I have ever said in the past and I’m not apologizing.  The fact of the matter is that it is easy.

I’ve shared my experiences time and time again with thousands of people across the country.  I’ve shared how my first 2 years in business were good and bad.  I did over 100 deals, but I had little to show for it.  I certainly wouldn’t have been considered successful if you would have looked at my income statement and balance sheet after 2 years.  I’ve also shared with all of you how after two years I sat down to evaluate my business.  I wrote down everything that worked well for me and everything that didn’t work.  The truth is, at this time I was at a cross roads and considering quitting as a real estate investor and finding something that was “easier” to do.  Instead, I identified what I was good at, what worked well for me and I pushed through to achieve tremendous success.

Real estate investing is easy, but quitting is easier, so many people choose to quit.

I’m currently reading a book by Seth Godin called The Dip.  This book is exactly about the story I just shared with you.  The Dip is the time in your life when you are at a crossroads.  You either push through, or you quit.  Seth Godin tells the story much better then I ever could and I highly recommend that you all pick up the book and read it.

For the last few years, my greatest passion has been to take real estate investors who are experiencing The Dip and to help them push through.  These are people who know investing works because they have experienced it, but they begin to question whether or not it works for them.  They’re ready to give up and move on.  I come along side them, encourage them and help them to push through to the other side, to the next level.

All things in life have challenges.  Everything!  There are things that everyone is good at, and you stand out in the eyes of someone only because you pushed through.  If you would have given up driving after the first few times that you struggled you wouldn’t be driving today.  The same goes for walking.  Even for reading.  Reading isn’t easy, but if you are this far, you pushed through and you didn’t give up.  If every school teacher quit during the dip, we’d have no teachers today.  If every doctor quit during the dip, we’d have no doctors today.  Those who push through are rare, and it’s because they are willing to hang in there and push.  That separates them from everyone else.

No matter your profession, you can choose to push through The Dip and become great, or you can quit and retreat and be just like everyone else.  Read the book, you won’t be disappointed.

Blessings,

Steve Cook

To learn how YOU can make real estate investing a career, get Steve’s all-inclusive wholesaling and rehabbing eBook Flipping Like a Pro by clicking here.

To become a student and learn from Steve, Shaun and their top students, become a LIFEonaire Insider. (You get courses on wholesaling, rehabbing, short sales, and debt free investing AND you get coaching from Steve and Shaun every month!)