Jog, walk, or drive a certain area once a month for 10 minutes.
I have found some of my
best real estate investments doing this. I will jog a certain neighborhood for a year and look
for change. For there to be profit in a deal, there must be two elements: a bargain and
change. There are lots of bargains, but it’s change that turns a bargain into a profitable
opportunity. So when I jog, I jog a neighborhood I might like to invest in. It is the repetition
that causes me to notice slight differences. I notice real estate signs that are up for a long
time. That means the seller might be more agreeable to deal. I watch for moving trucks going
in or out. I stop and talk to the drivers. I talk to the postal carriers. It’s amazing how much
information they acquire about an area. I find a bad area, especially an area that the news
has scared everyone away from. I drive it for sometimes a year waiting for signs of some
thing changing for the better. I talk to retailers, especially new ones, and find out why they’re
moving in. It takes only a few minutes a month, and I do it while doing something else, like
exercising, or going to and from the store.
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Shop for bargains in all markets.
Consumers will always be poor. When the supermarket
has a sale, say on toilet paper, the consumer runs in and stocks up. But when the housing or
stock market has a sale, most often called a crash or correction, the same consumer often
runs away from it. When the supermarket raises its prices, the consumer shops somewhere
else. But when housing or the stock market raise their prices, the same consumer often rushes
in and starts buying. Always remember: Profits are made in the buying, not in the selling.
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Look in the right places.
A neighbor bought a condominium for $100,000. I bought the
identical condo next door for $50,000. He told me he’s waiting for the price to go up. I told
him that profit is made when you buy, not when you sell. He shopped with a real estate
broker who owns no property of her own. I shopped at the foreclosure auction. I paid $500
for a class on how to do this.
My neighbor thought that the $500 for a real estate investment class was too expensive. He
said he could not afford the money, or the time. So he waits for the price to go up.
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Look for people who want to buy first. Then look for someone who wants to sell.
A friend
was looking for a certain piece of land. He had the money but did not have the time. I found
a large piece of land, larger than what my friend wanted to buy, tied it up with an option,
called my friend, and he said he wanted a piece of it. So I sold the piece to him and then
bought the land. I kept the remaining land as mine for free. Moral of the story: Buy the pie,
and cut it in pieces. Most people look for what they can afford, so they look too small. They
buy only a piece of the pie, so they end up paying more for less. Small thinkers don’t get the
big breaks. If you want to get richer, think big.
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Think big.
Retailers love giving volume discounts, simply because most business people
love big spenders. So even if you’re small, you can always think big. When my company
was in the market for computers, I called several friends and asked them if they were ready
to buy also. We then went to different dealers and negotiated a great deal because we
wanted to buy so many. I have done the same with stocks. Small people remain small
because they think small, act alone, or don’t act all.
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Learn from history.
All the big companies on the stock exchange started out as small
companies. Colonel Sanders did not get rich until after he lost everything in his 60s. Bill
Gates was one of the richest men in the world before he was 30.
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Action always beats inaction.
These are just a few of the things I have done and continue to do to recognize opportunities.
The important words are “have done” and “do.” As repeated many times throughout the
book, you must take action before you can receive the financial rewards. Act now!
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