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Learn How to Turn This Recession into YOUR Goldmine

From Charrissa Cawley, real estate millionaire and entrepreneur, comes a brand new real estate investing program that promises to give you everything you need to succeed in real estate, all in one package.

Big Money: Real Estate has been and always will be a big money market. With the right education, you can bank an average yearly salary on one good deal.

Step By Step: The course is broken down into easy to learn modules. You'll learn everything from locating properties, research, inspections, financial analysis, negotiating, buying and selling wholesale, rehabbing, appraisals, refinancing, cashing out at the right time, and so much more. Nothing is left out!

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Avoid Common Mistakes: Let's face it, we all make mistakes, but when it comes to money, you want to keep these to a minimum. Learn from Charrissa's experience and you easily increase your chances of survival..

Timing: Now is the best time ever to get into real estate investing. The real estate market hasn't been this hot for 30 years!

BONUSES: For a limited time, you get an UNREAL bonus package with Real Estate Power Investor.

How about your own advanced Real Estate Analytics Software Robot? This is just one of the many killer bonuses you get when you pickup Real Estate Power Investor.

This might sound too good to be true... But Charrissa has gone far out of her way to set this real estate wealth course above any other. Just take a look at the testimonials..

It Can Only Get Better Once You Learn And Take Action!

Screening Your Leads: Letting the Web Do Your Work and Build Your Portfolio

When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone nobody envisioned that it would one day be as widely accepted as it has been. Although the telephone can dramatically cut down on the amount of work that goes into qualifying your prospects, the amount of time you spend on the phone qualifying leads is time you have to take away from other more lucrative activities. If you want to take your real estate investing career to the next level it’s time you step into the 21st century by investing pennies in a website – a solution that will free up time and help you bring in more pre-qualified leads than you’ll be able to handle.

The biggest benefit to you in having a website is that it can flood your inbox with pre-qualified leads – people who at a minimum already know something about you and are at least receptive to the idea of doing business with you. These are Grade ‘A’ prospects for you because you won’t have to explain as much to bring them up to speed and establish credibility with them because your website will have already done the heavy lifting for you.

A good website will have a questionnaire or information dialog box for your prospects to fill out. This information will be like digital gold to you because you’ll be able to further screen your prospects and weed out prospects unlikely to be good candidates for the type of investing in which you specialize or concentrate. In mere seconds you can find out everything you need to know to help you decide whether that particular prospect can be discarded or warrants a telephone response.

At this point you can send a canned message to prospects you can’t help and concentrate on prospects more likely to have properties worthy of a personalized telephone response. In addition, you can further screen the remaining prospects and call the hottest possibilities right away.

Every lead will land in one of four categories:

  • Strong prospect – warrants an immediate call
  • Possible prospect – call after the stronger possibilities have been called
  • Non-prospect – Based on the information they’ve provided, you’ve concluded that the lead doesn’t warrant a personalized response. These leads can receive a standard email thanking them for their interest, but unfortunately you don’t think there’s anything you can do to help them.
  • Good candidate – just not for you. These could be prospects with property that would lend themselves well to an investing strategy you don’t handle. For these candidates, you might work out an arrangement with another investor where you swap leads that fit the other’s investing strategy – in exchange for a small piece of the pie when they make the sale. By the same token you can slide a little something their way for any leads they provide you with that end up in your portfolio.

You only have 24 hours in a day to handle the myriad details involved in locating and purchasing property. Every second you spend on the phone is time you can’t spend on more lucrative activities. The beauty of a website is that it will work harder than you can. It’s available when your prospects are actively seeking answers – even if they’re thinking about it in the middle of the night or on the weekend.

Put the power of the web to work for you and reserve the telephone for strong candidates. Free up more of your time for other activities that will have greater potential to impact your net worth. If you find yourself itching to spend more time on the phone, give a friend or a loved one a call. You’ll have time to catch up on the latest gossip because your website will be working while you’re on the phone.

A good fisherman uses good bait. Decent bait will get you a lot of good nibbles, but a real estate website will cause the fish to jump into your boat. Unless you enjoy sitting in a boat all day hoping for an occasional nibble, invest pennies a day in a solution that will give you a full string of fish that will get you home more quickly. To learn more about how you can put the power of the web to work for you by loading your inbox with qualified prospects, point your browser towards www.realestatepowerinvestor.com

Financial Freedom and Wealth Building That Lasts A Lifetime

It is one thing to build wealth but quite another to keep it. Here are some tips that can help you build a nest egg that keeps building and appreciating in value over the course of your lifetime.

Make sure you establish a good credit rating. Establish good credit while you are young and make sure that you understand that credit is a means to building a good “credit-worthy” reputation. It is a means to an end, not a way of topping off your bank balance!

Pay off your credit cards and bills in full each month before the due date. The minute you pay a credit card bill or any other type bill late you cause a domino effect with your other payments. Other credit cards immediately raise your credit card APR for not paying your “other” bills on time as agreed.

Pay for whatever you can, whenever you can upfront and in full. This does not mean avoid using your credit altogether but the more you use cash, the less interest you will be charged for your purchases over your lifetime.

Pay your taxes on time. One of the most miserable life-defining terrible mistakes that a person can make is to pay their taxes late. This not only red flags you in the eyes of the bureaucracy for an expensive and time consuming tax audit but the penalties and compound interest that is charged for paying late has created many paupers.

Own your own home-don’t rent! This is one of those secrets that is contained in every wealth building advice book out there. Obviously if you own you are gaining equity and value as opposed to paying in to someone else's.

Don’t take out equity on your home to pay bills! There are lots of scams out there that will advise you to take out equity in your home so you can pay for credit card bills. This puts your home at risk if you can’t make a payment. Even if you have lost your job or are ill try and keep it as an asset.

Look for deals when buying real estate. Take advantage of individuals who are really motivated and need to sell their home for pennies on the dollar and then either fix it up or resell it for a profit.

Never take out money from your retirement plan to pay bills! Money taken out of your retirement funds is not only taxed but you may have to pay interest on it. This can cost you a lot of money over the long term.

Make saving money a priority, not the last thing on your wealth-building list. Saving money has nothing to do with your income level, hard or great luck or investment decisions. Even people with low paying jobs can become very wealthy if they save money and invest their savings wisely. Financial experts call this “paying yourself first!”

For more tips on wealth-building and in particular about investing in real estate to make money go to: www.realestatepowerinvestor.com.

A Survivor’s Strategy to Thriving in a Tough Market

The sky is falling and Western Civilization is about to end.

TV news reports and newspaper articles almost universally tell the same Chicken Little tale: real estate is dead and only an escapee from an insane asylum would dare invest in real estate in the next two years or so.

I couldn’t agree more.

If you’re a novice investor and you’ve identified real estate as a possible investment opportunity AND you dive in without a proven system, a solid mentor and guidance that can help guide you through the minefield that is today’s real estate market AND you overpay for a property, the news reports are accurate.

At the same time, if you’re a smart investor you’d never dream of investing in any commodity without knowing ahead of time that you could turn a tidy profit at some future point in time. To do otherwise would be akin to diving headlong out of a perfectly good airplane with an equally good parachute still on the seat. If you do your homework, the next two years or so could be the foundation for what could very easily become a multimillion dollar investing portfolio. However, the ball’s in your court.

There’s no doubt that a declining real estate market presents some very specific challenges – and unique opportunities. How you approach investing will determine whether you look back on this period with sad-eyed regret or starry-eyed wonder.

Make no mistake about it. I’m in no way insinuating that real estate investing in the next two years will be completely hassle free. However, If you follow a system and use sound investing strategies and do your homework you can still purchase property for as little as fifty cents on the dollar. Even after factoring in repairs, you should be able to build instant equity and have a property that will provide you with a positive monthly cash flow.

If you closely police your costs and make certain that you only buy property that can produce an ongoing residual monthly income it really doesn’t matter if the market continues to fall – even if it falls to the extent that it temporarily sucks all of the equity out of your property. Read that last sentence again. It really doesn’t matter because real estate will rebound at some point and it’s not likely to take all of your equity, if you’re in the right markets. The more property you control when the market comes out of its free fall the greater your potential for runaway profits.

As the market goes through this challenging period you’ll see opportunities present themselves that a rising market doesn’t have. When the market is rising and interest rates are low the demand for quality rentals tends to fall because more people are interested in buying houses of their own. A constricted, declining market tends to put pressure on the rental real estate market – which means opportunities abound for increased rental rates – which means that positive cash flow can grow even more!

By using common investing sense you’ll wake up one glorious day and realize that the market has warmed and prices will once again begin heading north. Then the positive cash flow that you will have enjoyed to that point will seem inconsequential compared to the quick strides the value of your portfolio will be making at that point in time!

So hang in there, use your head, and snap up all the property you can get your hands on. It will be worth it in the long run. The payoff isn’t that far in the future. To make it happen you have to Take Action!

If you’re not clear about how to proceed, point your web browser towards www.realestatepowerinvestor.com so you can gain the investing strategies and advice that will help facilitate the realization of your dreams. Thousands of investors all across the US have already done so and now your future is calling. Will you answer the phone or let it continue to ring?

Stepping Your Way to Real Estate Investing Riches

A championship caliber athletic team doesn't begin the season by climbing into a bus and heading to the stadium to collect the trophy without having played a game. There are a number of stops along the way, some intense competition, and probably at least a few losses. Only by learning from mistakes and capitalizing on opportunity does a team get to play for the championship – and hopefully – the lessons learned along the way have laid the groundwork for their ultimate victory dance.

The same holds true for a real estate investor with dreams of creating wealth out of thin air. Succeeding in real estate requires a series of well-timed, perfectly executed steps to ensure your financial victory in some of the most competitive markets in the world. You don't simply go from point 'A' to point 'B', collect a few deeds along the way, and write your way into “Who's Who in Real Estate Investing”.

Instead, you have to start with a solid framework of educational know-how – techniques and strategies that you can put into practice – that will give you a place at the table and the opportunity for you to create sustainable real estate wealth.

Once you've got an educational framework in place, you need to plan for success. Planning includes goal setting – making a determination of what you want to accomplish – as well as deciding how you want to execute your plan in reaching your destination.

These strategies are daily activities you'll perform like clockwork. Just as washing your hair is a process of rinse, lather, repeat, real estate investing is a process of locating properties that make sense, negotiating their purchase, and deciding on the best course of action to take to pull maximum profit out of every deal. Sometimes it's a quick flip after a rehab; other times you'll buy and hold. Determining the best strategies for maximum profits is critical to your success as an investor.

When you're first getting started, you're afraid of making mistakes, and this fear can cause paralysis, which will prevent you from reaching the success you're dreaming of realizing. Instead of allowing this paralysis to set in, reach your hand out to someone who has been down the road you're on; a mentor of sorts that has the experience to gently guide you towards the winner's circle with advice, encouragement, and welcome words of wisdom.

The one element missing that stands between you and reaching your dreams is a good coach. No ball team has never won a championship without good coaching, and real estate investing is no different. By navigating your web browser to www.realestatepowerinvestor.com you'll receive the individualized support you need to shave years off your real estate investing learning curve, avoid costly errors along the way, and expedite the process of creating a real estate dynasty all your own.

Will it take work on your part? You betcha. Are your results guaranteed? If you listen to your coach and follow their advice, you can't go wrong. While nothing in life worth having is guaranteed, one thing is assured. Your coach will give you rock solid advice, encouragement, and education that will put you in the best possible position to succeed in real estate.

By placing your trust in www.realestatepowerinvestor.com you're assured that the future is bright and that the championship is yours. You can't win the championship if your rear end remains firmly planted on the couch. So what are you waiting for? A solid plan for the future, a step by step process, and a willingness to take action to affect your future – and that of your family – is all that stands between you and the financial rewards you're dreaming about. The first step is the easiest: Move your right hand and click your computer mouse on www.realestatepowerinvestor.com

Real Estate Investing 2.0: Success Strategies for Today's Fast Changing Market

Maybe you're an investor that has been making laps around the real estate block for some time or perhaps you're brand new to the industry, wanting to cut your teeth by diving into your first deal shoulders deep, making money right out of the gate – while avoiding most of the mistakes that others have made along the way. Regardless of which situation best describes your current experience level, you can either go it alone and learn through trial and error what might work or you can plug into a tested resource that can quickly get you up to speed and making money quickly.

The US real estate market is changing quickly; techniques and strategies that worked well in years past are now obsolete. If you employ ineffective strategies in today's market, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. New and experienced investors discover every day that the Internet is a compendium of information – good and bad – and separating the wheat from the chaff is a challenging and potentially expensive endeavor.

If you hitch your wagon to the wrong resource you could find yourself headed down the path to obscurity, instead of on the road to investing success. It costs very little to develop a website, generate traffic, and push a flawed real estate program off on hapless victims that don't know any better. Fortunately there are some great resources available that can shorten your learning curve.

A good investing resource must have a number of qualities going for it before you should place your trust in it for advice that will either make or break your financial future:

  • strategies
  • software
  • tools
  • tips
  • resources
  • advice

Making money in today's ever-changing real estate market takes perseverance, but more importantly the proper information, tools, and resources that take your needs – and the realities of today's real estate market – into consideration. If the hot tip you've been given is only effective in a rapidly appreciating real estate market, it will be useless in a falling market. If you attempt to utilize this kind of useless information, you could very quickly discover that you've become nothing more than a helpless pawn in someone's strategy to make money fast by finding people that don't know any better to invest in their product.

Before you trust a resource with your financial future, do your homework. Find out who stands behind that resource and whether or not they've ever invested. Is it an investor with a proven track record – or a hired gun taking aim at your wallet?

The latest software, tools, tips, and resources – along with sound advice and strategies for success – can all be located in one convenient location. At www.realestatepowerinvestor.com you'll be taken by the hand and spoon fed the information you need to succeed.

The secret to success in today's challenging real estate investing market is to utilize only the best, most creative ideas and strategies that have been successfully used by many others in building lucrative investing portfolios. Are you confused about whether a specific technique is appropriate for your current deal? If you are, plug into a network of valuable information that can answer your questions, allay your fears, and plant your feet firmly on the path to real estate profitability. Point your browser towards www.realestatepowerinvestor.com for the solutions you seek.

The Top 5 Secrets to Creating Wealth in a Down Economy

Some of the best‐kept secrets aren’t those held close to the vest, known only to a select few. Those tend to be the secrets that eventually get out – one way or another. Whether whispered to a private confidante and then repeated for the world to hear or quietly passed from one person to the next, the best way to ensure that something is known to one and all is to attach the word “secret” to it. If you’re really interested in keeping a secret, tell everybody you know as publicly as possible.

There’s really no secret formula to creating wealth – even in a down economy.

While there’s no magic formula, it seems that nobody knows how to do it, because so much attention is focused on finding the silver bullet that will help you reach all of your hopes and dreams that you overlook common sense and let the senselessness of raw emotion take over. Here’s the “secret” formula that will guarantee your success:

• Keep your head screwed on tight – First and foremost, you can’t afford to get carried away by irrational fear. Life runs in cycles and so does everything else. Whether you’re talking about real estate investing, the economy, or just about anything under the sun, remember that there are good days and bad days. Don’t get carried away by the emotion of the moment, because moments, like time, will eventually pass. As long as you stay grounded in reality, you’ll do just fine.

• Ignore the so‐called experts – In many cases, an expert opinion is nothing more than somebody’s best guess, based upon an analysis of facts and figures. Expert analysis is regularly
wrong, though. Look at how many ball games and political campaigns had very different
outcomes than expected because of an unknown variable or unanticipated change. God gave
you a brain for a reason – and it wasn’t to prevent that annoying whistling sound the wind
would otherwise make when it passes between your ears. During down times, it’s especially
important that you analyze deals independently of what the experts say.

• Knowledge is Power – It’s important that you know what you’re doing at all times, but during hard times it’s more critical than at any other time that you know what you’re doing. If you’re not well‐versed in a variety of real estate investing techniques it can seem almost impossible to make money – regardless of fast‐changing conditions on the ground. Do yourself – and your family – a huge favor and learn everything necessary to take advantage of emerging
opportunities. Until the credit crunch, a lot of real estate investors had very little knowledge
about how to work a short sale or invest in a foreclosure. Now, there are so many self-proclaimed experts talking about these techniques you don’t know who to trust – and who to ignore. Invest in yourself and your future. You’re worth it.

• Buy Low, Sell High – This timeless secret is common knowledge, common sense, and is
commonly overlooked by hundreds of thousands of investors of every imaginable stripe on a
daily basis. Real estate investors, stock investors – and others – get caught up in trying to ride a
wave to its inevitable crest. Instead of getting out of an investment at the right time, they get
greedy, and hang on to the investment longer than they should. The price drops like a rock,
they get scared, allow panic mode to set in, and sell for a loss. Sure, everybody knows how to
buy and sell smart. How come nobody remembers to do it when it’s their money on the line? In
a down market it’s even more critical that you write this secret down, memorize it, and abide by it. If you do, you’re well on the way to making money regardless of the market. If you don’t –
well, there’s always next time…if there is a next time.

• Run the opposite direction of the crowd – It’s been said that in a down real estate market, the herd mentality tends to take over. I disagree. Instead, I think the flock mentality takes over. Sheep are dumb animals – possibly the dumbest animals in existence. If one walks off a cliff, they’ll all follow. It’s even more important in a down market that you do what the numbers tell you to do – regardless of what the rest of the flock does. If everyone is selling out of fear, they’re essentially throwing themselves to the wolves. Do you see the Warren Buffet’s of the world doing this? Nope…they’re digging up every dollar they can get their hands on and buying up as much as they can get their hands on. That’s the secret to their unbelievable success. They rush into the game and buy when nobody else will.

If you obey these five secrets, you’ll be on your way to succeeding regardless of what the market is doing. If you’re especially vigilant to remember these five secrets – particularly during a down market – you’ll set yourself up for astonishing profits and stunning wealth creation. So put them to work for you today. When somebody asks you, “So, what’s your secret?” you can honestly say, “Well, it’s really no secret.” Click here now.

REPI Teaches How to Buy a Foreclosure

As anyone with even passing familiarity with national news headlines is aware, the number of foreclosures taking place on a daily basis has shattered all previous records. While this is obviously a calamity for the homeowners losing their homes, it’s also a devastating situation for lenders who can’t afford to take so many REO properties back into their inventories. For real estate investors that know how to capitalize on this opportunity it is an unprecedented opportunity for profit – and a chance to help others at the same time. Here are three ways you can take advantage of the opportunities available in today’s red-hot foreclosure market:

  • Foreclosure – Once a homeowner has defaulted on their mortgage loan, they’ve begun the countdown to foreclosure. At this stage, the homeowner has faced the reality that there’s a very strong possibility that they could lose their home. Some are holding out hope that a miraculous solution could materialize that will suddenly cure their financial problems, but many others are simply looking for a way out that will allow them to retain some of their dignity – and their credit rating. A very good method of identifying these foreclosure opportunities is by scouring foreclosure filings and then contacting homeowners with a solution to their problems. You can approach homeowners in person, but a better way is to send a personalized letter explaining how you can help them and why you are the best person to help them out of their situation. You might give a brief explanation in your letter of how you propose helping them, but the most critical thing your letter MUST do is make a personal connection with the homeowner with a call to action. Ask them to contact you TODAY so you can explain all of the options available to the homeowner. Improve your chances of success with this strategy by following up with a phone call. Be relaxed, honest, and willing to help. The homeowner will appreciate your candor and will be much more willing to reward you with a go-ahead to help them. ·
  • Post-foreclosure – Once the foreclosure is complete, the homeowner is out of the picture. Now the lender has an REO that they desperately need to get rid of – quickly. As a real estate investor, you’re in the unique position of being a solution to the lender’s REO problem. Lenders are saddled with so many REO properties that many of them are willing to discount them for as little as 40 to 50 cents on the dollar. Offers that lenders would have rejected with contempt a year or two ago are being accepted with gratitude today. So be professional – and ready to get a good deal. If you’d like free access to a tremendous resource in locating nationwide REOs and other bank-owned properties, go to www.realestatepowerinvestor.com
  • Pre-foreclosure – While I don’t teach pre-foreclosure strategies, some real estate investors have had success by trying to beat the competition to the punch and buying a distressed property before it shows up on foreclosure lists. There are several ways of doing this. One of the best is by advertising your willingness to purchase the home of a homeowner who may be facing foreclosure. Homeowners know before anyone that they’re in serious trouble, so if they’re facing an impending divorce, job loss, or payments they can’t afford, they know before they’ve even missed a payment that something needs to be done. You can advertise for pre-foreclosures in the classified section of your newspaper, on bandit signs, or even Craig’s List. When these desperate homeowners contact you for solutions you can buy subject-to the existing financing, by utilizing partners, or even by doing a short sale. Your options are wide open. Listen to the needs of the homeowner and craft a solution that meets their needs – and funnels cash into your bank account!

Foreclosures are a tremendous way to build a portfolio of properties very quickly in today’s market. The opportunities are real – and the profits can allow you to generate instant equity and residual income that can help you make a generational shift in your family’s financial future. For free tips, tools, and advice on how to capitalize on today’s foreclosure crisis, visit www.realestatepowerinvestor.com

Bridging the Gap between Learning and Doing

Do you remember being a kid, envisioning what the day you'd get your driver's license would be like? You wanted that little piece of plastic more than almost anything in the world. It meant freedom from everything that you felt was holding you back – unfair parental rules, long bicycle rides and embarrassing walks – and you believed that once you had it everything would change. There was only one problem: You didn't know the first thing about driving a car. So how did you bridge the gap between walking or riding a bike and driving a car?

That's right: Driver's Education.

As a fledgling real estate investor, you feel the same anticipation. When you sit and daydream about investing, your pulse quickens, your eyes glaze over, and you begin to imagine what your life will be like when you're able to firmly state for anyone who cares to listen, “I'm a successful real estate investor.” So what's stopping you?

You have some basic knowledge that you've picked up from a book, a seminar, or a course, but you still don't have the confidence to proceed with your plans and your dreams. To you, success is a million miles away, and bridging the gap between knowing and doing seems like a Herculean feat. And to top it off, what you know is that you don't know nearly enough. The situation isn't hopeless!

What you need to do is find a way of harnessing the raw knowledge that you currently have, spinning it around in you head, and applying it in your life. Knowledge is not power. APPLIED knowledge is power. In order to tap into that power you need to accumulate enough of a real estate background to feel comfortable in moving forward. You can do it, but it will take a commitment to reaching your goals. If you don't believe you know enough to make it work, you have to build a bridge to the knowledge that can free you from the shackles of financial mediocrity.

By tapping into the resources of a mentor whose been there and done it, you can learn everything you need to know to unlock your success. Real estate investing, when done correctly, is a series of fluid movements that get you closer to the wealth that you envision in your future.
If your credit isn't as strong as you'd like it to be, you'll need to improve your FICO score. You've heard there are certain steps you can take to do this, but you're clueless as to how to proceed.

The current investing field is littered with the shattered dreams of investors who ignored solid advice and then lost everything when their cash flow couldn't support their monthly debt service on their rental property. How do you know a solid investment opportunity from a dud that you should walk away from from the start? A mentor can answer all of these critical questions with solid advice and firm guidance.

You may be at a different stage of your investing career. You may have a fair amount of knowledge, but lack just one or two of the fundamentals necessary to put it all together. Fortunately, the knowledge you need can be delivered to you on a silver platter with the help of the real estate industry's best hands-on learning opportunities.

An REI Buying Tour, which takes place in cities all across America, is a great hands on learning opportunity. You have the opportunity to work with a mentor directly, where you are taken by the hand and shown the process step by step. You're also introduced to a team of folks that will assist you every step of the way and then given the tools you need to take to capitalize on the boundless opportunities available in today's real estate market. You'll learn how to analyze a deal, how to go beyond the simple numbers crunching and really delve into the nuts and bolts of a winning real estate transaction by learning from not only your mentor, but a variety of industry professionals who each bring to the table core competencies so critical to your success.

Your success is within reach. By crossing the bridge we have built for you, opportunity is within your reach, and you can reach your dream of real estate investing success. Today can be the day that you begin the short drive towards bridging the gap from your reality to your destiny. Click here and start NOW!

7 Mistakes Every Real Estate Investor Makes and How You Can Avoid Them

What sets truly successful investors apart from those who are only moderately successful or – worse – those who prematurely pack it in and decide to give up on real estate investing altogether? Mistakes do it every time. However, all investors are prone to mistakes. The key to moving forward is recognizing those mistakes and working proactively to keep them to a minimum. Here are some of the most common mistakes – and how you can avoid them:

• Treating real estate investing as an unusual hobby – Real estate investing is serious business. Fortunes can be made in real estate investing, so treat it seriously. Get a business card and distribute it. Successful investors pass business cards out like Halloween candy. In addition, don’t neglect to establish yourself as a serious investor. Set up an LLC, get a Federal Tax ID number and open a business checking account. You can survive with a personal checking account, but doing so screams “amateur”. Be professional and take the steps necessary to prove that you’re serious about your success.

• Thinking that your need for education ended with your first property purchase – Your need for an ongoing real estate investing education is as real as the needs your physician or your children’s teachers have for ongoing education. It keeps you up-to-date on strategies and techniques that you otherwise might never hear about.

• Thinking the Internet is a passing fad – For too many investors, being steeped in the “old” way of doing things is costing you money, profits, and deals. 92% of all sellers begin the sales process online. If you don’t have a website, you’re severely restricting your options – and your cash flow. If you have an artery with a 92% blockage you’re a prime candidate for a stroke. Don’t do this to your business.

• Ignoring your business credit file – If you have a pulse you know you have a credit file, but did you know you can build business credit and expand your opportunities? Separating your personal credit file from your business credit file can help you to more quickly take advantage of opportunities, especially if your personal credit is less than stellar. Another benefit to working to build business credit is that all business creditors don’t require a personal guarantee by you, which means that you won’t be personally liable for all of the debts of your business. An added benefit is that you might be able to get better terms for a real estate transaction with your business credit than you could secure with your personal credit, and it won’t affect your ability to buy a new car when you need one.

• Thinking real estate agents and brokers are for “uneducated investors” – A good real estate broker can be one of your best friends. The key is finding one who understands your investing strategy and what it is you’re trying to accomplish. Sure, real estate
brokers charge commissions, but if the value of what you receive is greater than the cost you’ll be money ahead – and it will be reflected in the value of your portfolio.

• Being secretive about what you do for a living – Let everyone know that you’re a real estate investor. Everyone. From your accountant to your veterinarian, it’s critical that you let as many people as you can know that you’re actively seeking property. The current credit crunch has some unlikely people in a world of hurt financially. Most people either know someone or know of someone that you might be able to help out of an embarrassing and time-sensitive situation. Your stock in your community will go up if you can help a friend or even a family member of someone in your sphere of influence. That can pay off dividends now and in the future, so don’t be tight-lipped. Get the word out!

• Hiding from the press – You may not think that what you have to say is noteworthy, but your local media may disagree. Newspapers and TV stations are always on the lookout for interview targets and sources for national news stories with a local spin. The press won’t come beating down your door – at first, but once they’re aware you exist and that you are an intelligent, articulate interview subject, they might. Get the process started. Send a reporter an email explaining a real estate-related concept or principle – keeping in mind that it has to have a local spin. If you’re feeling particularly bold, issue a press release.

While it’s possible to have some success as a real estate investor even if you make some of these mistakes, why would you want to? It doesn’t take much to set yourself apart from the crowd and increase your visibility and your credibility. The fewer mistakes you make the better off you are. Go ahead, correct these mistakes that many investors make and free the entrepreneur that’s struggling to rise to the surface. It’s worth the effort. Go ahead, give it a try!