JUNE 2018
RE N E W S
INVESTMENT
NEWSLETTER OF MID-AMERICA ASSOCIATION OF REAL ESTATE INVESTORS
property management
SUCCESSION plan
beneficiary will estate Plan
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DIE
FEATURING ATTORNEY DAVID NACHMAN & FINANCIAL PLANNER EDWARD ETHINGTON MAREI.ORG
Thanks to the partnership between Office Depot® and Mid-America Association of REI, you can now enjoy the benefits of our Store Purchasing Card Program. Over 1,100 retail store locations across the US. Find the supplies you need the same day, in store. In-Store Discount Card & Discounted Link for MAREI Members & National REIA Members Get discount services from our Copy & Print Depot™ Black & white copies ........... $0.025 each. Color copies ........................ $0.22 each. Binding, folding, cutting ...... 40% off the retail price. Choose from thousands of environmentally conscious products for your green goals. Use your Store Purchasing Card throughout the life of your contract. See the MAREI Member Benefit Magazine in the My Account Section at www.MAREImember.com
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MAREI.ORG/CALENDAR
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JUNE MEETING WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DIE? Real Estate Entrepreneurs assume that their heirs want to, or even CAN, manage their business if they’re incapacitated or deceased. Or that they will suddenly come around or find a way to deal with it, in an emergency. The kind thing for you to do is to have a specific, written plan for people other than your heirs to operate the properties in trust should you become disabled. What’s your plan? Because you don’t have to be 85 to have something happen to you that makes it impossible for you to deal with the complex situation you’ve created. Join us at the June MAREI meeting on the12th where our special guests will be members Attorney David Nachman and Financial Planner Edward Ethington. This one of those meetings where your spouse or child might like to join you. Monthly meetings held at the Holiday Inn at 8787 Reeder Road, Overland Park, KS. MAREI Members & First Time Guests who Pre-Register at MAREI.org attend free all others pay $25 at the door or $15 online. As always there will be the Business Hall, the Deal Table, and Networking from 6 to 7 pm. Presentation starts at 7pm.
Mailing Address: 6709 W 119th #332 Overland Park, KS 66209 Phone: 913-815-0111 Web: MAREI.org Web: MAREIMember.com Email: Kim@MAREI.org Views and advertising expressed in the RE Investment News are not necessarily endorsed by Mid-America Association of Real Estate Investors. The information contained within should not be construed as a recommendation for any course of action regarding financial, legal, or accounting maters by MidAmerica Association of REal Estate Investors. Email to inquire about advertising oportunties or membership.
JULY MEETING & EXPO
See full day workshop page 5
ALL STAR NETWORKING TO BENEFIT HARVESTERS
ual n n A 4th
MAREI has held a vendor expo every summer since 2013, this if our 4th year for this to be a baseball-themed networking event to benefit Harvesters The Community Food Network. We are currently taking direct donations to Harvesters to reserve vendor booth space or ad space in our newsletter through our special link http://marei.harvestersvfd.org/ If you would like to make a donation or donate time to this event or reserve a booth for the event or have an ad in the official program for the event, please see the information on page ______ This event is open to the general public for a suggested donation of $5. We will have experts ready to answer your real estate investing questions and vendors of all type ready to share their knowledge and services.
RE INVESTMENT NEWS
03
real estate news HEALTHY HOMES PROPOSAL The petition to get a Healthy Homes Ordinance on the Kansas City Missouri Ballot in August was successful and citizens of Kansas City need to be aware of the many holes in this plan. Healthy Homes Proposed FEES to the Property Owner
Initial $20 Fee Per Rental Unit Paid Annually A late fee of 10% per month if not paid. Suspended permit fee of $300 to reinstate Health Department will be able to raise fees annually equal to increase in CPI The permit is non-transferrable, so if you sell, the new owner must get a new permit. Inspections to the Property The owner must turn in a health and safety inspection with the permit application. The landlord must allow inspectors access to an unoccupied property. Most inspections will be on a complaint basis, but complaints by who? It is not defined.
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Health Department Director shall determine a percentage of random annual routine inspections. Health Department Director can require additional inspections based on past performance. Health Dept Director shall formulate rules and regulations for the inspection process, method, and guidelines. Health Dept Director shall determine regulations for health, sanitation, and adequate rental housing standards. Health Dept Director can modify regulations on a case by case basis. inspections of an occupied unit can be made with five-day notice to the tenant. There is no fee for initial inspection, reinspection fee is $150 for first unit/$100 for all other units Consequences of Not Participating Permit suspension ($300 reinstatement fee) Permit revocation (owner can’t operate the property as a rental, legally) Require property to be vacated Fine to the Property Owner of up to $1,000 Imprisonment of the property owner for up to 180 days. WWW.MAREI.ORG
Councilwoman Alyssia Canady was quoted in several articles as saying "There are issues that will have unintended consequences." And Voters, Landlords, and Tenants all need to be aware of some of this consequences.
Currently, the city has a rental registration program and a vacant unit rental program that is 100% voluntary. These programs have been in existence for about 10 years, yet many property owners do not know about this program and do not comply.
Less Affordable Housing
There is not much enforcement. One would think the city would be asking landlord and real estate investor and Realtor organizations to educate clients and member.
One article quotes the numbers of an estimated 43 percent of the city's population living in rental units and that activists, the people responsible for this ordinance, contend that 10% of this population lives in substandard conditions. But of the 10%, are they all rental units. Or are some of them owneroccupied? So to improve the living conditions of 10% of the city's renters (maybe less), they will create a law that will affect the other 90% of the renters with higher rents to cover all of these possible costs. Every rental unit will have at a minimum an extra $20 licensing fee that could increase at the discretion of the Health Department Director. Plus if there is a complaint by the tenant or some random third party (we're not sure who can file a complaint to trigger an inspection) and a problem found (that could be just about anything at this point, as we don't have an inspection item list and the checklist will be at the Health Department Directors Discretion, who knows what is good and bad) there could be at minimum a $150 reinspection fee. Plus the time and costs associated with having the inspections. These costs to the property owner are going to be recouped in some way. Just like grocery stores pass on the costs of shoplifters to the consumer with higher prices, the property owners will pass on the extra costs to the person who pays, which is the rental tenant. Enforcement Councilwoman Teresa Loar was quoted in one article as saying "We have 330,000 rental units in this city. Who's going to enforce this?"
As one of those organizations, Mid-America Association of Real Estate Investors has never been contacted once in 10 years to educate their members about the fact there is a program. And no title companies provide this information at closing. One would think there would be some mechanism to let the public know that this program exists. Currently, only educated, responsible landlords comply with registration program. What makes them think the bad actors would then comply with new rules and regulations. The city could use their database of property maintenance violations, 311 complaints, and calls to the Health Department to identify and prosecute the bad landlords. The city could locate property owners through the Jackson County Tax Records. But with all these tools at their disposal right now, they are not able to enforce current rules and regulations, mainly due to lack of funding. So the new ordinance with its registration fee of $20 is somehow going to pay for administrators for the program, inspectors for the program, and all the other things that go along with it? Powers of the Health Department Director Formulation rules and regulations Formulate processes and guidelines Determine regulations Can modify regulations case by case
While there will be a Rental Housing Advisory Board appointed by the mayor, there will only be one Landlord appointed to a nine-member board.
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SECURITY DEPOSIT TRUST ACCOUNTS ELIMINATED Did you know that it is a state law in Missouri that requires all landlords to hold their tenant paid security deposits not only in a separate account but that account must be a Trust Account? This past legislative session Senator Doug Libla introduced Senate Bill 581 and Representative Gary Cross (a MAREI member by the way) introduced House Bill 1901. Both bills would eliminate the very vague and undefined need for a Trust Account. Both bills have passed all the committees in both the Missouri House and Senate and have been presented to the new Missouri Governor Mike Parson for his signature. All other bills MAREI was supporting died in committee. The Tenant Advocacy groups are gearing up to change state law across the country to make it harder to evict tenants, to inspect every rental property and to throw out laws prohibiting rent controls. We urge all readers to join the local property owners groups including The Associated Landlords of Kansas and Missouri Property Owners to protect our industry.
CHIP & JOANNA FINED $40G The EPA is always watching, even when it comes to TV. After reviewing several shows of Fixer Upper they found 33 homes renovated without following Lead Safe Work Practices. The Gains settled for $40,000 fine and demonstrated on a show in March how to properly remove lead paint in a renovation. What does this mean for the real estate investor? If you renovate homes personally you need to be Lead-Safe Certified and follow Lead-Safe Work Practices. If you hire a contractor, they need to be certified and follow practices. Want to learn more? See the Renovate RightTab at www.EPA.gov/lead
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KCRAR'S APRIL 2018 HOUSING REPORT Many sellers and builders are in a good position for financial gains, as the economy continues to favor putting existing homes on the market and building new homes for sale. We are finally beginning to see some upward movement in new listings after at least two years of a positive outlook. There may not be massive increases in inventory from week to week, but a long-term trend toward more new listings would be a good sign. Low inventory should continue to create a competitive situation for buyers, causing price increases over the next several months. Closed Sales decreased 1.3 percent for existing homes but increased 4.2 percent for new homes. Pending Sales increased 4.4 percent for existing homes but decreased 1.4 percent for new homes. Inventory decreased 20.4 percent for existing homes but increased 2.8 percent for new homes. The Median Sales Price was up 9.1 percent to $192,000 for existing homes and 4.5 percent to $344,250 for new homes. Days on Market decreased 16.3 percent for existing homes but increased 11.7 percent for new homes. Supply decreased 23.8 percent for existing homes and 3.7 percent for new homes. This winter and spring exhibited unseasonal weather patterns in much of the country. As the seasons change to something more palatable, wages and consumer spending are both up, on average, which should translate positively for the housing market. Being quick with an offer is still the rule of the day as the number of days a home stays on the market drops lower. If that wasn't enough for buyers to mull over with each potential offer, being aware of pending mortgage rate increases is once again in fashion. From Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors. Get the full report at kcrar.com/Statistics
WWW.MAREI.ORG
TENANT SCREENING MEMBER BENEFIT
With all the hubub aout evictions and fair housing violations, it's pretty scary to be a landlord. That's why we want to make sure all of our members know of one of most under utilized Member Benefit Rent Perfect because it they offer so much more than tenant screening. The founder of Rent Perfect, David Pickron a private investigator and self proclaimed lazy landlord created his platform for himself to not only screen tenants, but to autmoate, digitize and organize the rental management process.
as well as MAREI's Facebook Page and Blog, posting over the next few weeks. These videos share some of the biggest red flags to watch for when you are just taling with a tenant that will often help you screen them beofre formal application. David also sat down with us at MAREI to record a webinar that goes thorugh his screening process that you can access at www.MAREI.org/RP And if you want to stay on top of best practices, be sure to follow Rent Perfect on facebook.
Education
Screening
David shares a lot of tips and tricks through 4 different options. First he has a free e-book "Steer Clear of Your Next Eviction" on the Rent Perfect Website. Second, he has completed a series of "Red Flag Videos" which you will find on the MAREI YouTube page
If you take tenant screening seriously – and every real estate investor should – use Rent Perfect for instant acceess to
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Full credit check through Experian Criminal record with convictions Prior address history
And then in about 4 to 6 business hours get a thorough tenant background check that includes A thorough report Verification by our trained private investigators Customized rental agreement recommendations based on your criteria Other Services Offered Includes Online Digital Lease Agreements Renter's Insurance for Tenants Collection Rental Payments Online Skip Tracing of Missing Tenants Forms & Documents Integration with your Management Software Be sure to visit www.RentPerfect.com and for a discounted link to join Rent Perfect, go to www.MAREI.org/RP
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PLAN FOR THE WORST BY KIM TUCKER
I live about 3 hours from where the MAREI meetings are held. So we drive home the day after the meeting and on the way home from the April meeting, on a narrow, windy, hilly road, we peeked a hill at 60 to come face to face with a 1/2 ton truck in our lane. We hit the ditch and everything came out ok. But what if it didn't?
DEATH OR A DISABLING ACCIDENT CAN PUT A LOT OF STRAIN ON THE PEOPLE THAT HAVE TO PICK UP THE PIECES
I shared my story and received a response from Marty Hugo, a local realtor
You don’t want your heirs to have to look in the yellow pages for help!
"If there is anything I’ve learned, it’s that as soon as you think you have everything planned out, something new will come up to change your plans. Death or a disabling accident can put a lot of strain on the people that have to pick up the pieces and try to manage any type of investment (real estate, stocks, precious metals, collectibles, etc) that they aren’t familiar with handling. Just being the executor of an estate or the Surviving Trustee of a Revocable Living Trust can cause a lot of confusion, take a lot of time and require engaging the services of expensive experts (attorneys, tax experts, stock brokers, property managers & leasing agents, etc.) that your heirs should be acquainted with ahead of time.
Real estate investment can be a great way to grow wealth, but it can also be an expensive and timeconsuming headache to unwind a complex network of leveraged investments when you no longer have the option of consulting with the portfolio’s original creator."
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A few items to think about in the meantime. Naming Beneficiaries and Contingent Beneficiaries You have taken the time to set up those retirement accounts and to work them so they grow. You have paid good money into the life insurance companies. But have
WWW.MAREI.ORG
you taken the time to name a Beneficiary, probably a spouse and contingent beneficiaries, probably your children? Have you reviewed those lately? Maybe you have had a divorce or had a spouse pass away? I don’t know how many times we have dealt with a motivated seller that was the ex-spouse. When they divorced, the house was not retitled or the spouse was not removed and he or she ended up unwinding the estate of someone they were no longer related to and often times had not had any dealings with in years. All because of a lack of update. And do note when you are naming beneficiaries to some accounts, like a Roth IRA, that you might lose some of the great benefits that come with it if you name your trust as the beneficiary rather than a specific person or persons. Taking Care of the Kids Some folks put weird things into their will to make sure their kids get taken care of. Possibly saying that no property can be sold without the agreement of all children. Or to divide up the rental houses equally, which could cost time and money in lawyer fees to get the houses sold or divided equally. One investor I know specializes in this type of estate where the house was left to the kids equally and they all
Edward Ethington HighPointe Financial Group AAMS® CFP® 913-234-0314
have to agree on what to do with it. He works with the kids that want to sell and buys their shares at a discount and then waits out the other kids. It is one thing to argue with your brothers and sisters on what to do with a house, but when you become part owner of a house with a total stranger, you get more interested in selling sooner rather than later, costing you or the estate. Leaving Assets to a Minor I ran into this when I bought 23 houses from an estate. The real estate investor had passed leaving his 30 or so rental properties to his 16-year-old daughter in the care of his attorney. With no clear instructions or plan, the attorney decided at his $200 to $300 rate that he would save the estate money by managing the urban core rental properties himself instead of hiring a property manager. Many $1000s of dollars in fees later, after scaring off all the tenants and killing all the cash flow, the only real value of the properties at the time, he sold the properties to me for pennies on the dollar just to get rid of them. Pretty sure he got paid, but maybe not. Self Managed Rental Property We can look to the previous Assets to a Minor to see a good case. But I also know of two people that were working hard to build a rental portfolio. Great when there were two of them to manage all the headaches of the rentals, the mortgages and the paperwork. But when one of them passed unexpectedly, there was just too much for the other in the business to handle alone. And many of the properties were given away just to get rid of a headache. Not Planning for the Death of a Named Person In our case with the assistance of our attorney we set up our estate planning trust and named an executor to preside over the estate and to see after our two young children. We did set up a secondary trustee and a third. Which was very good planning as our executor was struck by early onset Alzheimer’s and passed away. We had spent several years saying we need to review and revise the trust over and over because those minor children were no longer minors and one of them was helping us run the business. We put it off and put it off, luckily we did revisit and revise, just in case we buy the farm at 60 mph in a head-on collision. Not Planning for the Death of a Beneficiary The same goes for not planning for the death of a beneficiary. What happens then. What if you are leaving everything to your two children and one of them passes. Will the entire empire go to the other child or be distributed to that child’s children?
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Not Having a Residuary Clause This was a big one the estate planner made sure we knew about. He said it was standard in most estate plans. It basically says that if you forget to transfer any assets into your Trust that you might not own currently but might before your death. This will include them in the Trust. For example, you buy a car a few years after setting up your trust and don’t get it titled into your trust. Or you transfer all your LLCs and other corporations into your Trust, but you have one lone rental property out there in your own name that you forgot about. Not Having a List A few years back a guy called selling his mother’s house. He wanted to get it under contract, but he needed time to go through the entire house, drawer by drawer and box by box. His mother had squirreled away assets everywhere. But nothing was written down as to what, where and how to access. He and his siblings were literally going through everything finding account statements stuck everywhere. They then had to figure out how to access the funds and get them where they needed to go. If the mother had taken the time to list out all the accounts the account numbers and in this day and age, websites, usernames, passwords AND the security questions those kids in that house would have saved countless hours. And they were never sure if they had found everything. I have heard stories from many other investors who have purchased houses with all the contents. Back in my early career, a friend had purchased what he thought was a two-story house with an attic. As they started clearing out the house they found a finished 3rd story with more bedrooms and several valuables that were worth more than what he had paid for the house. The out of state sellers just wanted to get rid of the house, never see it, never touch it and never deal with it.
Have you talked with your spouse and kids, what are their thoughts? Do you have a partner who could run the business without you? Would that partner want to buy you out? Support your heirs? Partner with your heirs? Not Planning Sure you can get to it tomorrow, but you never know what is going to happen. My husband and I were almost in a horrible crash last month. My son and his now wife rolled his car in a tangle with a drunk driver a year or so ago. My brother in law was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's and passed shortly after that. Our good friend had a rare heart disease. In all of these examples, there was real estate in question. And in the cases that ended badly, the spouse was left holding a renal bag that they didn’t particularly want to deal with. So, please don’t wait till someday. Sit down now and start talking this through with your family, your CPA, your attorney and get a plan in place soon. If you have a plan, take the time to review it regularly. The kind thing for you to do is to have a specific, written plan for people other than your heirs to operate the properties in trust should you become disabled.
WHAT’S YOUR PLAN? BECAUSE YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE 85 TO HAVE SOMETHING HAPPEN TO YOU THAT MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU TO DEAL WITH THE COMPLEX SITUATION YOU’VE CREATED.
David R Nachman The Entrepreneurs' Attorney
Assuming the Spouse or Kids Can or Want to Take Over Real Estate Entrepreneurs assume that their spouses or kids want to, or even CAN, manage their properties if they’re incapacitated or deceased. Or that the same family members who’ve always, often loudly, expressed their dislike of your real estate empire will suddenly come around, or find a way to deal with it, in an emergency. Vena Jones-Cox shares in a blog post that her father had amassed a great real estate rental empire, but when struck by dementia her mother was unable to take over. So rather than being the great source of income in later years, it was a burden that had to go.
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10990 Quivira Rd, Suite 200 Overland Park, KS 66210 Tel: 816.285.6029 www.NachmanLaw.com dnachman@nachmanlaw.com
WWW.MAREI.ORG
dy u t S e s a C
FIRST PRIVATE LOAN Kim Tucker Do you have a great deal to share? We would love to feature your deal here or on the blog. Email to kim@marei.org labeled "Case Study"
My husband Don started this real estate investing thing back in 1999. Back then we had not learned about the great builder risk policies that would insure our rehab projects or wholesales for only the days we owned the property. So we were working with a traditional insurance broker who had the option of buying policies for 2 months at a time or buying insurance for 6 months and getting a refund for the unused months. We had just bought and sold a bunch of houses over 6 months period and we needed to catch up on paying for our 6 months and getting our refund for the unused portions. Our insurance guy came to our office and his question to us after we completed our business was "What is the money costing you for these deals?" You see he was our insurance guy and he had to provide proof of insurance to the lender, so he knew we were borrowing money from a bank somehow. At the time we had a Home Equity Line of Credit to do deals. His next question totally changed our funding sources for our business forever. He asked us "what would it be worth to you to use my money if you could do just one more deal in the next 6 months?" He went on to explain that he had been approved for a line of credit on his home and if we could use his money to do our next deal and pay him a $5,000 flat fee to use his money for the deal, would it be worth it to us. Our response was let us find a deal and try it. A few weeks later a great little house came along, I think in Grandview. It didn't need much. Some paint, some carpet, some counters and a bit more of updating. We used the insurance man's money to buy and renovate. We resold the house, we paid him $5,000 and we made a good profit. Somewhere north of $10,000 and south of $20,000, it was so long ago that I just don't remember. What I do remember is the interest rate I figured on this loan. If we converted the $5,000 to an interest on that particular loan and annualized it, it came out to us paying 86 percent on the money. Now that $5,000 as 86% was still better than points and the high interest of a hard money lender and it was more than our line of credit. BUT, we were able to do one more deal that we would not have been able to do. We learned what a private money lender is and allowed us to do a lot of deal since then that we would not have been able to do. Over the next few years, we shared our latest investing case studies with friends and family. We had photos, we shared how the deals worked and the profit. We did this informally in conversation over dinner and at events and every private lender that is a close friend or family came to us and asked to lend us money. We have a few other private lenders we work with that lend to other investors, but still what brings their money to the table is seeing the deals we have done and us sharing case studies like the one on page 16. We would like to share your case studies with the members so they can learn and to help you build your credibility. Please reach out to me at kim@marei.org to share.
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Benefiting Harvesters Mid-America Association of Real Estate Investors
(MAREI) has established a goal of donating $20,000 (or about 60,000 meals during the Month of June and July leading up to their Annual All-Star Networking Event
We have so many great folks at MAREI who have helped us raise thousands of meals over the years. This year we are asking all of our members for their help and their ideas to make this a bigger and better event. We are asking our vendors to host booths and place ads in the "Official Program". We are asking our experts to host a Q & A table on a specific topic. We are asking our members and guests to attend and make a small donation.
Would you like to be an All-Star, but you just didn't quite make it in the Majors? Then this is your time
If you have ideas or would like to take part, please
to shine and you don't even need a bat!
email kim@MAREI.org and if you would just like to make a donation, please go to
Help MAREI help Harvesters by taking part. Attend the event on July 10th and donate $5 at the door, donate your time and money as an expert coach or donate your time and money to be a sponsor. Or donate to get your ad in the All-Star Networking Program in July.
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http://marei.harvestersvfd.org/
“For every $1 donated, Harvesters provides 3 meals.” WWW.MAREI.ORG
up to bat While everyone wins who takes part, we do have some scoring going on for fun! POP UP FLY: $5 Donation Attend the meeting and donate $5 at the Door for Raffle Tickets to win a Door Prize. HIT A SINGLE: $25 Donation Puts a Quarter Page Ad in the July Newsletter. HIT A DOUBLE: $50 Donation Puts a Half Page Ad in the July Newsletter. HIT A TRIPLE: $50 Donation plus a $25 door prize and get a Vendor Table or Host an Expert Table at the Event. HOME RUN: $100 Donation Puts a Full Page Ad in the July Newsletter. GRAND SLAM: $250 Donation and a Door Prize for a Two Page Advertorial in the Newsletter and a Vendor Table at the Event. We also need Ambassadors to be Experts and answer real estate questions, help take tickets at the door. To be a sponsor and/or a coach or other idea for raising funds: please email Kim@MAREI.org or call or text 913-815-0111. We will confirm space and email you a link to make your donation directly to Harvesters!
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IS YOUR WEBSITE WORKING?
from a Carrot User
Have you asked yourself "is my website working?" Do
4. Get Google and other search engines to show
you even have a website? As the marketing arm of
your site when they search online.
my Investment company I ask myself these questions all the time and as I deal with a bunch of members
Now you have many choices when it comes to
here at MAREI and look at their sites, I often wonder
building your website:
why so many don't ask this question of their own sites.
1. Not have one and use social media - like a Facebook Page as your website. All the tools are
If you have a business to market, you NEED to have a
there and could be a great addition to a website,
website. And in for the most part, no matter what
but in my opinion, not quite enough.
business your in your site needs to do three things: 2. Build one yourself with Wordpress or Wix or 1. Be your online representation of you and your
some other do it yourself tool. However, this takes
business so potential customers can get to know you.
time and knowledge and could keep you from ever having a "good" working website.
2. Build credibility for you and your services online through the resources on your page.
3. Have someone custom build you a website, but unless you are a major corporation, this can be
3. Capture the contact of potential customers so you
costly and total overkill.
can follow up with them and do business.
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WWW.MAREI.ORG
4. By far the best option is to use a website provider in your industry that specializes in websites for your type of business, that provides content within your industry to build credibility and has great tools to capture leads and plug them into your system. So, for example, in the Realtor industry you might look to a provider like Placester and for real estate investors, you might look at Realeflow or InvestorCarrot. I have tried all options: used my facebook page, build my own website with Wordpress, used a templated site from Realeflow and then I found Investor Carrot. I also use Placester for our Real Estate Brokerage. When I found Investor Carrot, I found out what I had been missing. With my own websites that I build, I was killing it on getting Google to find me by writing a bunch of blog posts that contained a ton of keywords, which Google liked, but I was not capturing any leads. Then I tried a Realeflow website, which is customizable to a point and optimized to capture leads and to respond to those leads. But there was no way to have blog posts and get Google to like my page and show it to anyone. It seemed to be all about creating a bunch of one-page websites to give away a free report to capture leads, not to build any credibility for my company.
DRIVE TRAFFIC
Then I found InvestorCarrot and found what I had been missing. A website that is fairly easy to set up with easy instructions on how to customize it. It provides me we with
Build it and they will come,
already written blog posts that I can customize and lets me
market it and more will come.
write my own. this puts a ton of keywords on my site to make Google happy. Plus it captures leads and will automatically
1. Search Engines & Key Words
put them into my email system so I can automate where appropriate.
2. Pay Per Click Marketing
So when you look at your website, no matter your industry ask
3. Share Posts to Social Media
yourself - it's doing the job. Many members have sites built many years ago that were just an online business card
4. Links Back from Business
with a way for people to contact you. But they have no
Pages: Google, Yelp, Yahoo, etc
content to build credibility, to use in marketing, or get search engines to find you. There are no free reports or other lead
5. Use website in print
generation items to capture names and emails. And worst of
marketing: direct mail,
all, no reason for a potential customer to reach out.
brochures, business cards, etc
Another marketing tool that Investor Carrot recommends is
6. Share Knowledge through
using word of mouth. To have their current users tell other
articles on Industry sites like
potential customers about their services through an affiliate
MAREI.org and BiggerPockets
program. I have special links that allow me to send potential
and link back to your site
customers to them for special "free" reports and webinars. The special "free" reports ask for an email address to access the
7. Post on signs & billboards
free thing and they capture the potential client as a lead so they can follow up. Because they can explain things so much better than I, I want to give you a link to see how to generate 100 buyer leads and 30 seller leads in the next 90 days at MAREI.org/Carrot90Day RE INVESTMENT NEWS • PAGE
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The Olathe Assignment: We send a lot of direct mail to heirs of properties. This particular heir we had sent a letter to about her brothers house sometime in 2017. One letter made it to her, the next one a few months later came back as undeliverable. First I tried to find a different address for the prperty in question. Next I tried to find the heir on zabasearch.com to see the address they had. From that research I still had the same mailing address for the seller i Lawrence. My next step was to search for the seller's name on Facebook and I found her name and it showed she lived in Lawrence So I sent her a freind request and a message asking if she was the right person who was in charge of dealing with this particular house. Now unless we are friends, Facebook will not deliver the 16
RE INVESTMENT NEWS
message. So it took a while for her to get on Facebook, accept my friend request and read the message. Then three months later, when she was ready to get to the point of selling, she messaged me back. Her story was rough, she had had 3 deaths of family and friends in a year and a half and had to deal with all of the properties. Ths one was in nice suburban Olathe and it was trashed. She wanted to get our opinion on selling it for cash right now, listing it to sell on MLS for cash, and then spending time and money to clean it out and get it ready to sell for top dollar. As we are Realtors, we often make 3 offers - our cash price now, our listed price in 45 days, or our opinion on what it would cost to fix it up and sell it in the future. She wanted more than our cash price, but didn't want to wait out either of our lists price. But in todays market, the hot hot market where houses sell for crazy stupic prices, totally trashed,
Returned Letter to $10k Rather than buy it with a hard money loan and pay closing costs to buy it and to sell it, we chose a different option - the assignment. We reached out to one of our proven cash buyers and had them take a look. They agreed to pay $10,000 more than we could buy it for. So we assigned our purchase contract to them with a one page assignment form. They went to closing and purchased with cash. Now I assume they are renovating it to sell it on the openmarket. All from a returned letter that we were unable to get delivered. Well worth the 20 minutes of FREE onlineresearch.
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VISIT
Build Your Team With MAREI Business Members Save time and money by starting with service providers who already know your business. Who can solve problems as they arise to help you get the deal completed on time and for maximum profit. Accountant
Building Supplier
Coleman Accounting Service Bob Coleman www.ColemanAcctg.com 913-787-0308
DeMayo Enterprises Wholesale Cabinets Mark Yanda www.DeMayoEnterprises.net 913-980-4260
Attorney Anderson & Associates Evictions / Collections Julie Anderson www.MOKSLaw.com 816-931-2207 Rick Davis Legal Real Estate Law Rick Davis www.RickDavisLegal.com 913-283-8300 Auction Company Auction.com Rachel Bailey www.Auction.com 816-797-6875
Joe’s Carpet / Weber Flooring Jerry Ratway www.WeberFlooring.com 913-236-3680 The Home Depot George Neal 816-461-9583 2% Rebate / 20% Off Paint Details in Member Benefits Contractor Hearth Masters Fireplace / Masonry Gene Padgitt www.ChimKC.com 816-461-3665 Genesis Home Restorations Mold Remediation Terry Amerine GenesisHomeRestorations.com 913-270-0812
MAREI.org click on Business Associates
HCS Restoration KC, LLC Mike Peace HCSRestorationLLCKansas.com 913-731-6537 NuLook Custom Finishes Cabinet Refinishing Carol Baldwin www.NuLookFinishes.net 913-385-2574 Serve Pro East Independence/ Blue Springs Crytsall Gregg www.ServeProEastIndependence BlueSprings.com 816-224-5300 Under Pressure Property Services Rehab, Maintenance, & Staging Dallas Kidd www.MyUnderPressure.com 913-274-9555
RE INVESTMENT NEWS • PAGE
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Insurance Agema Insurance Fred Dickinson www.AgemaIns.com 913-543-8116 Arcana Insurance Rental, Vacant, Landlord & More NREIA.ArcanaInsurance HUB.com 877.744.3660 Self Directed IRA Equity Trust Company TrustETC.com/NationalREIA FREE Training 844-732-9404
REI Investor Funds Hard Money Charlie Fitzgerald www.REIInvestorFunds.com 913-904-8090
McKinnis Real Estate Turn Key Provider Nick McKinnis McKinnisRealEstateInvestments.com 816-914-2614
Revolver Finance Hard Money Jeremy Hanna www.RevolverFinance.com 316-880-1611
KCInvest Investment Properties Scott Tucker & Kim & Don Tucker www.KCInvest 913-735-0018
Worcester Financial' Hard Money Taryn Kendrick www.WorcesterFinancial.com 816-291-4146
Pride Properties Wholesale Marcus Bray & Matt Bray www.PridePropertiesHomes.com 913-213-5370 Deal Makers Monthly Meeting
Marketing Lending Flat Branch Home Loans Morgtgage Banker Beth Langston FlatBranchHomeLoans.com 816-479-5841 x 1148 Crossroads Investment Lending Hard Money Britton Asbell / Doug Harris www.KCLend.com 913-800-8226 House Traders Monthly Meeting Investors Choice Funding Hard Money Scott Ficinus InvestorsChoiceFunding.com 816-668-7223
Property Manager Constant Contact Email & Social Media Marketing FREE Trial MAREI.org/ConstantContact Investor Carrot Investor Websites Free Training & Discounts www.MAREI.org/IC Pat Live Answering Service Discounts www.MAREI.org/PatLive Zoom Video Conferencing www.MAREI.org/Zoom Office Supply
Longhorn Investments Hard Money Mike Minor www.LongHornInvestments.com 913-209-8630
Office Depot / Office Max www.OfficeDepot.com Discount Link & Card in Member Benefits Package
Merchants Mortgage Mushy Money Susan Aubin www.MerchantsMtg.com 303-514-0815
Pest Control
North Oak Investments Hard Money Tommy Nigro www.NorthOakInvestment.com 816-249-1001
Properties
BedBugTraps.com Stop BedBugs Discounts for Members
Bridge Turn Key Investments Nathan Brooks www.BridgeTurnkey.com 913-276-4114
Home Rental Services Paul Branton www.Home4Rent.com 913-627-9543 Lotus Key Homes Loni Louis Bernard www.LotusKeyHomes.com 816-838-7368 M & M Property Pros Michael & Michele Bellman www.MMPropertyPros.com 816-490-6745 Realtor Crown Realty Rich Melton RichMelton.CrownRealty.com 913-215-9004 Realty Resource Scott Tucker www.RealtyResourceKC.com 816-284-7844 Show-Me Real Estate Dan Hartman www.Show-MeRealEstate.com 816-532-6101
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Rent Collection National Credit Systems Specializing in Collections www.NationalCreditSystems.com Screening Rent Perfect Tenant Screening Plus Heather Johnson www.RentPerfect.com 877-922-2547 Discounts at www.MAREI.org/RP Servicing Escrow Services Inc. Loan Servicing Nationwide www.EscrowServ.com Title Company Accurate Title Company Dave Green www.AccurateTitleCo.com 913-338-0100 Alpha Title Mary Kellogg www.AlphaTitleInc.com 913-498-8999 Trash Out 1-800-Got- Junk Trash Pick Up www.1800GotJunk.com Discounts in Member Benefits 1-800-JunkPro Trash Pick Up & Dumpsters Clint Pringle www.Junk.pro 816-935-7078 JunkLuggers Eco Friendly Junk Removal Olivia Jones www.JunkLuggers.com 816-905-2204 Want to be listed in our directory, join MAREI as a business member. Details at MAREI.org.
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT L. SCOTT FICINUS INVESTORS CHOICE Scott has been a part of MAREI since 2006 according to our records while still in corporate America. He has always been quick to offer assistance to help us facilitate a meeting or an event. As an investor in both real estate and notes, a Realtor, a Hard Money Lender and a frequent attendee on many an IRA fun cruise, Scott has a ton of knowledge to impart. This month he is helping us here at MAREI to kick off our Genius Tables at the monthly meeting by hosting a table to share his knowledge. If you need help with buying or selling or funding a deal, reach out to Scott to see how he can assist you. Phone: 816-668-7223 Email scott@investorscf.com
InvestorsChoiceFunding.com/ Kansas-City-Hard-Money/ RE INVESTMENT NEWS • PAGE
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At Mid-America Association of Real Estate Investors, we have been helping real estate professionals connect, learn and do deals since 2004. Now in our 15th year, we must be doing something right! ______________________________
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