Vacant Land Investing Made EZ for Joe the Plumber
November 21, 2008
Boo. Some pretty scary times right now in the economy.
If you have a heartbeat, then you know that the dominant emotion right now in this country is FEAR. Fear of financial collapse… fear of never being able to retire… fear of losing your job… fear of the unknown.
Just plain FEAR.
And people have a right to be scared by what’s going on. After all, if the auto industry tanks, 3 million people could be out of work overnight. 150 BILLION dollars of income could disappear from the economy. Not to mention the ripple effect that would create through all of the businesses that support those plants.
If you’re scared… you have every right to be.
But just because it’s normal to be scared right now doesn’t mean it’s smart.
Smart investors get scared. But smart investors don’t let FEAR affect their decision making.
Here’s what one of the richest men in the WORLD has to say about fear.
“We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.”
-Warren Buffett
Now if you’re going to take investment advice from anybody, Warren Buffett is probably the guy to give it to you. Just look at his results.
The Golden Rule of Begging: If You’re
Asking for Money, It Doesn’t Help You
to Pull Up to the Meeting in a Rolls Royce
So this week, the CEOs of the Big 3 (Ford, GM, Chrysler) are piling into their private jets and taking a day trip to Washington to sit on Capitol Hill and beg for handouts.
But they had a bit of trouble explaining why they needed money so badly and still were able to spend the $20,000 or so (EACH) to fuel up their private jets to get to the big show in Washington.
Listening to their testimony was really eye opening for me. It opened my eyes to just how clueless these folks are. And how reckless they’ve been with their investors’ money.
Since I’m in the land investing business, my mind usually focuses on things from the perspective of the investor. It’s just how I’ve trained my mind to think. I’m always looking out for the investor.
In the case of the Big 3, you have shareholders sitting around watching their investments disappear right before their eyes.
GM just hit a 66 year low of $2.52 per share. Ford a 26 year low of $1.21.
Things are NOT looking good.
And the big wigs are still using the private jets…
Is that who you’d want managing your money?
How Much Water (Money) Would YOU
Pump into a Leaking Balloon?
And that’s what’s so terrible for all of the Big 3 investors. You buy stock and you place your trust in the COMPANY to manage and protect the value of your investment.
The company (which in this case happens to be a set of 3 dinosaurs who wouldn’t know innovation if it smacked them in the face) have been dragging their feet for years. Just fat and happy… willing to pump out overpriced, gas guzzling cars left and right.
But now that’s a problem. Because here’s the deal:
If the average American can’t afford to go into DEBT, then the Big 3 can’t afford to be in business.
It’s a deck of cards really… and it’s starting to fall.
So they’re asking for 25 Billion dollars of YOUR money to tide them over…
Tide them over until WHAT is a question they’re not really willing to answer.
The “bridge loan” they’re asking for doesn’t really address what they’re going to do to fix their companies.
I’m not sure they’re really interested in that.
The bridge loan is simply money to tide them over until the U.S. consumer can afford to start borrowing money like a mad man again.
What If Shareholders in the Big 3
Could Have Locked in Their Profits
When They Bought The Stock?
Now let’s jump into the world of the land investor.
Like I said last week, smart land investors don’t buy and pray. They BUY because they KNOW they got a deal ON THE BUY.
That’s how you make your money in land.
It’s a much more profitable way to invest… and you sleep a whole lot better at night.
And that brings me to someone I’d like to introduce to you today. His name is Mike McClaskey. He’s a smart land investor and a colleague of WealthBridge Enterprises.
Mike has a philosophy when it comes to land. His philosophy is that you only buy from motivated sellers.
Now when he uses the word “motivated sellers,” he’s not talking about your average Carlton Sheets educated weekend real estate investor’s definition of a “motivated” seller…
Mike’s not looking to buy from land owners that want to sell. He’s looking to buy from land owners that HAVE to sell.
He’s looking for BIG developers in trouble.
And believe it or not, right now, there are a LOT of ‘em…
Land Investors Have a
HUGE Advantage Over Other Investors
So let me ask you a question…
If you could buy something for $9 KNOWING that you could turn around and sell it (if not immediately, within a relatively short period of time) for $100… would you consider that a good investment?
Well that’s what Mike does… over and over and over again.
He locks in his profit on the BUY.
And when he buys, he buys BIG. Which is another key to creating HUGE profits in land.
You buy the land, you split it into smaller parcels and you sell it.
Just like if you go to the grocery store. The store’s profit is bigger if they sell you ONE apple. Their profit per apple shrinks if they sell you a whole bushel.
In land, you BUY the bushel and sell it off, piece by piece.
If you can’t buy the bushel on your own (and most people can’t), then you join a group of investors and buy the bushel.
That’s what Mike McClaskey does. He locates the “bushels” for groups of investors to look at. WealthBridge Enterprises supplies the expertise to guide the investors through the process.
| If you’re curious just how good the deals are right now, let me invite you into the “back room” at WealthBridge Enterprises. Here’s a fact sheet from our due diligence on a deal we’re considering right now. Click the link to view the Fact Sheet: |
And that’s why our investors are happy. There’s no “buy and pray” strategy happening here. If there’s not a smoking deal on the BUY, then there’s no deal… period.
What Kind of An I.Q. Does It
Take to “Manage” Dirt?
So let’s go back to the example of stocks one more time. When you purchase stock in a company, you’re expecting someone to manage the value of your investment.
“Managing” your investment means a ton of different things. You could almost think of every decision that a business makes as an investment management decision. After all, every decision they make can influence the value of your investment… either directly or indirectly.
Let’s say you’re an investor in General Motors. Do you really think that having your CEO take a private jet to Washington is a good idea when money is tight?
Is that good management of YOUR investment?
I haven’t found anyone yet who would say so (except the CEO).
If you’re a land investor, there’s not much required by way of “management.” After all, most of the work has been done on the FRONT end, before you ever purchase the piece of property.
Of course, sometimes you get the land rezoned as a part of your exit strategy. Sometimes times you don’t. Many times the dirt just sits there waiting for you to make your move down the road.
As far as “management” goes, there’s not a whole lot. After all, it’s just DIRT. Not much to manage.
That means there are fewer things (read people) messing with the value of your investment.
I guarantee you the managers of an investment in dirt (like the experts that would manage a “bushel” of land on behalf of a group of investors) aren’t flying around the country in private jets at $20,000 a pop and sending the bill to their investors.
(We’ll talk about what it costs to manage a land investment in a
future issue of the Dirt Report.)
When you invest in land, you know your expenses UPFRONT.
This is pretty much “investing made EZ” for every Joe the Plumber out there.
Can You Become a Land Investor Just
Sitting on Your Couch?
With all of the turmoil in the markets and all of the uncertainty about how people (who actually want to retire someday) should protect their assets, I’ve decided to set aside a whole day or two for getting the right information out into the market.
I’m going to be hosting a multimedia Land Summit that’s going to help a whole lot of people.
But I’m not going to talk about what I THINK you’d like to know, I’m going to give you the answers to the EXACT questions you have about investing in vacant land… especially in this market.
The format will be a Question and Answer session. You supply the questions, I’ll supply the answers and any supporting content to make things crystal clear.
The fee is $47 and your questions are due by Wednesday December 3. That’s the Wednesday AFTER Thanksgiving.
Once you’ve signed up and sent your fee, you’ll get instructions on how to submit your questions (yes you can ask more than one).
Once all of the questions come in, I’ll create an audio that goes through each one and lays out the answer in simple english.
Everyone will get a copy of the audio including answers to every question that comes in.
Now I usually charge a lot more than $47 for consulting. After all, this info can make you a lot of money. But in this case, considering I can help thousands of investors at once, it’s a good deal for both sides. There’s leverage there.
And if you’ve been on the Dirt Report list for any length of time, you KNOW I love leverage…. smart leverage.
Here’s the page to reserve your spot:
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
November 15, 2008
This issue is probably going to get me into hot water…
But before I get to the controversy, I want to tell you about a client of mine. His name is Lou Moretti. He’s a 5th grade school teacher in New York.
Now in the past, I’ve talked about his land deal just a bit. He invested in 40 acres a year or so ago. His first investment in dirt. He had NO clue what he was doing with raw land. That’s pretty much why he became a client.
(He’s reading this now, and I guarantee you he’d agree.)
You’ll hear more about Lou’s investment in upcoming issues of the Dirt Report. And there’s a picture of him. But for now, let’s keep moving…
I gotta tell you, Lou doesn’t make a lot of money. He’s a school teacher. And he works darn hard for the money he does make. He’d be the first to tell you that.
A School Teacher on the
Fast Track to Wealth?
But that’s NOT to say that Lou isn’t on a fast track to becoming wealthy one day. Because Lou DOES do something that sets him apart from 95% of the people in this country.
He may not make a lot of money. But what he DOES make, he uses WELL. He doesn’t invest his dollars in stuff like TVs, gadgets, gizmos and a bunch of junk that eventually ends up in the dump. He knows how money works.
How does he know?
Because he spends time STUDYING how it works. He’s a fan of investor Robert Kiyosaki. That’s the guy who wrote “Rich Dad, Poor Dad.” If you haven’t read that book yet, you owe it to yourself (and your family) to pickup a copy today.
Lou’s even been to “Rich Dad University.” And he’s got his head on straight about how investing works.
And here’s the important part:
Lou’s not just doing this to increase his own wealth, he’s got much bigger goals than that.
Lou’s taking his knowledge and doing something that no one did for people in my generation.
What he’s doing is making sure that the kids that pass through his classroom have their heads on straight about how money works too.
They’re only in 5th grade. But they already know how to write a check… they know what an asset is and they know what a liability is.
From the Mouths of Babes… Are YOU
Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?
Think your CAR is an asset? Think your HOUSE is an asset? These kids don’t… they know better than that.
Lou’s teaching them to be financially LITERATE.
He calls it Finance Fridays.
The kids love it. They’re having fun, and they have no idea they’re learning skills that are going to put them on a SUPER fast track to big financial results in their lives. Way ahead of most anyone else in this country.
They will have the tools they need to take control of their financial futures.
I’ve attached a newspaper article about Lou and what he’s doing.
You can take a look here:
And THAT brings us to the point of today’s Dirt Report. (Here comes the stuff that’s going to make some folks mad.)
It’s Time to Take Control Folks, Because I’m
Not Sure Who’s Driving This Thing
Do you know who’s in control of YOUR financial future?
Are you sure?
If you think you’re in control, you might be right. Or you might be surprised to find that there’s nothing further from the truth.
I’m afraid that’s the case for most people in this country.
In fact, there are new clues every day. Just look at yesterday’s newspaper.
It’s the story where the Treasury Department has decided that it doesn’t know what it’s doing with your money. And unlike what it said a few weeks ago, YOUR $700 billion isn’t going to buy up “toxic” mortgage assets.
That’s what you were promised remember? That’s what was blared through the media.
The toxic mortgage “assets” (even the government doesn’t know what an asset is) had to be cleaned off the books to get the economy going again.
It was SO imperative, and SO time sensitive… completely necessary to avoid a financial meltdown.
You signed the check for that, but apparently it isn’t so necessary now…
Instead, the money is going to be used for something else. It’s going to be used for whatever the Treasury Department wants to use it for.
Does that make you feel in control?
After all, it is YOUR money they’re spending here.
Of course a whole lot of people are crying foul. But yelling doesn’t really get you anywhere. It’s a lot smarter to simply BE smarter.
Like Lou. Lou’s smarter than the average person is about money. Heck, his 5th graders even qualify for that.
He’s helping his kids take control of their financial futures.
And that’s one of the things I like best about investing in raw land. I know that’s what got Lou’s interest as well.
Investing in Land Means
You Are In Control
What you’re about to read here is either going to make you angry (which is likely), or it’s going to light a fire under you to take action and do something about your financial future (hopefully, that’s likely too).
From my point of view, I don’t really consider the stock market a real form of investing. From my perspective, it’s much more of a “send your money away and pray” philosophy of wealth creation.
Obviously, it doesn’t always work out.
Most people in the stock market are simply taking advantage of what seems to be nothing more than a legalized form of gambling.
You send in your money and wait. The stock market always goes up over the long term right?
But that’s when things like WorldCom happen… or Enron. You realize just how much control you have as a stock investor when something like that comes up.
And that’s why I don’t consider stocks and mutual funds smart investing. Smart investors KNOW their chances of making money. What’s more, really smart investors KNOW how to lock in profit before they spend a dime.
Of course, there are no guarantees… but when you’re smart like this on a consistent basis, you don’t really need guarantees.
When you’re investing in raw land, you don’t hand your money over and wait, hoping your money manager does the right thing with it.
That’s NOT being in control. That’s relinquishing it to someone else.
When you invest in land, you know what you’re getting into BEFORE you spend a penny.
Sure you have to WAIT to realize your profits, but waiting is a whole lot different than hoping or praying.
In land, you know your entrance strategy and you know what your options are to get out… and when.
Can You Really
Bat 1,000 in Land?
In a few weeks, I’m going to introduce you to a BIG player in the land business.
In fact, he’s NEVER lost money in land. He just recorded that with me this week.
Is he lucky? Maybe…
Is he smart? You bet…
He’s smart because when Tom (that’s not his real name) makes an investment, he’s done enough of his homework to KNOW that his profit is locked in. That’s SMART investing.
No hoping or praying required.
How many investors in stocks or mutual funds can say that?
If YOU Don’t Take Control, Someone
Else Will Take Control For You
So when you’re considering your options, it’s best to steer clear of stuff that can be messed with by people with far more power or influence than you or me… people like the government.
Heck, from 1933 to 1975 you couldn’t even OWN gold in this country. OK… technically it wasn’t ILLEGAL to own gold. The law just said you weren’t allow to “hoard” gold.
But guess who got to define what hoarding was and wasn’t? It certainly wasn’t the guy who actually owned the gold.
The flip of a switch, the mark of a pen, the laws change and you’re sunk.
Could it happen again?
Who knows. Do you really want to find out?
With land, you’ve got an ace in the hole. You’ve got the land.
All hell can break loose, currencies can collapse, markets can run amuck. But no matter what, you’ve STILL got the land.
And when everything else is collapsing, you quickly find out that there are only a very few REAL assets on Earth.
EARTH is one of them.
Here’s ONE Bank That Doesn’t Need a Bailout
November 7, 2008
I’m glad the election is over…
For the past few weeks, my phone has been ringing off the hook with so many political calls asking for my “support,” I can hardly have a normal conversation.
Every other sentence is interrupted with the call waiting beep.
“Hi this is Steve… what can I do [BEEEEEEEEEEEP] for you?”
You see how annoying this can get.
So I’m glad it’s over. And it really doesn’t matter to me who won… not from a business standpoint anyway.
Because my investing strategy for both myself and my clients doesn’t change one bit. The land business is based on fundamentals that don’t shift with the changing of a President.
And the land business seems to fly low enough under the radar that the government doesn’t play fast and free with the rules (like they did when they decided to ban short selling on certain stocks a few weeks ago).
That DOESN’T mean that a new Commander in Chief in the White House can’t bring even more opportunity to the table… but only time will tell.
So for now, let’s shift back to something that you’re hearing about in the news pretty much every day.
It seems like there’s a log jam in the big government bailout plan.
The money (your money) is flying out of the Treasury, but it’s getting stuck.
Apparently, the masterminds of the bailout plan forgot one thing:
They forgot that they can’t force a bank to lend money. (At least not yet.) That was the whole idea. Give the banks the money. Then have the banks lend the money to get the economy moving.
But banks are still in trouble. And no one really knows how bad it’s going to get.
And that brings us to the point of today’s Dirt Report.
Because there’s one “bank” that shows no signs of needing a bailout…
It’s Called the Land “Bank”
In a market like this, I call it, “The Bank of Opportunity.”
“Land Banking” is the very same strategy that is responsible for nearly 100% of my success and the success of my clients and those around me.
And you’re going to laugh when you hear just how simple the strategy of land banking is.
Ready?
Buy Land and Wait
How’s that for a secret investment tip?
Buy land and wait.
You buy land in the path of growth and development and you wait until it comes to you. Then you sell (maybe).
Of course it’s a bit more complicated than that. Especially the BUYING part. You have to do that right for the whole thing to work.
But the basic idea is very simple. You put the land in your “Land Bank,” and make withdrawals (meaning you sell) when the time is right.
There are a lot of people YOU know who made their fortunes using this very simple (and repeatable) strategy.
I’ll talk about some of them in the coming weeks and go into a whole lot more depth into their strategies in my “From Panic to Profits Report” that will be published in about 14 days. (Be on the lookout for a special email when it’s ready.).
So let’s talk about one example of a successful land banker you definitely know:
It’s Bob Hope… the comedian.
No one’s really sure exactly how much land he owned, but it’s been estimated that his holdings were somewhere between $100-500 million.
He owned a LOT of land.
In fact, former Palm Springs Mayor, Frank Bogert, was once overheard saying, “Every time I found a piece of land, it turned out Bob Hope owned it…”
Sure Bob Hope was famous, and he was paid very well for his celebrity. But during his career, Bob Hope discovered another fast track to living the American Dream. A secret strategy that doesn’t require you to be famous, popular or even funny. For him, that secret strategy was investing in land.
I call this a “secret” only because so few people know about it. I’m not sure why that is, because when you realize just how big the opportunity is in this business, well, you’ll be wondering why MORE people don’t know about it.
(Feel free to keep this secret to yourself… 
Reminds me of someone else who knew the secret… General Douglas MacArthur.
Here’s what he said about the land business:
“All a man has to do to get rich in America is find out where people are going, get there first and buy land.”
I’m telling you all of this simply to show you that land investing is as old as the hills… literally.
But THIS time in history is particularly special if you’re interested in profiting from land.
That’s because there’s something happening out there right now that very few people seem to be paying attention to.
(Remember, in the land business, the more you KNOW, the better you tend to do.)
I call it…
The BIG Opportunity Almost No
One is Talking About
So if the market’s so soft and property prices are deflated right now, then why is this time such a smart time to become a land investor?
The obvious reason is:
DEALS. DEALS are everywhere.
It’s the same reason Warren Buffet is out there buying up stocks right now. Billions of dollars of them. He sees deals. Good value for the smart investor.
But THESE land deals are different, because there’s something happening right now that doesn’t happen very often in the land business.
The BIG guys are hurting.
The BIG developers are sitting on TONS of dirt that is ready and waiting for development. Some of them even have water and electric… everything but the structure.
Problem is, the structure might not come any time soon. Because no one is interested in buying right now. Financing is tight.
And without the development, the developer is stuck sitting on dirt. Dirt is a liability on their balance sheet.
(There’s no cashflow in dirt folks.)
And since many of these developers are publicly traded companies, too many liabilities can hurt stock prices.
So what are they doing?
They’re basically walking away and taking losses. And they’re selling for pennies on the dollar…
Because they don’t have the luxury of a 5-10 year hold (which is what any smart land investor should be thinking about)…
Most Private Land Investors
CAN
Wait 5-10 Years
(Maybe Even You)
It’s a huge opportunity for the savvy investor.
Right now, huge developers like KB Homes (http://kbhomes.com) are sitting on acres and acres of land.
In fact, here’s PROOF.
The article is titled:
“Concordia Homes of Nevada Closes Sales Offices”
The obvious question for the savvy investor is:
“What happens to all that land?”
Well that’s exactly what we’re talking about. There’s opportunity almost everywhere you look.
But it gets even BETTER…
Because some of this land is pretty different than your average good land investment. Usually, when you invest in raw land, you have to go pretty far from development to get the deal you need to lock in your profit on the buy.
And that usually means that no one has invested in the infrastructure (electric, water, etc.) that has to be there before development can really take off.
That’s the reason for the 5-10 year hold. You hold the land and wait for development to come your way. If you know what you’re doing, investing in raw land is little more than a waiting game once you acquire the property.
But SOME of this land I’m talking about with the big developers is what we call “close-in.”
That means it’s not 40-50 or more miles outside of civilization. It’s much closer.
In a normal market, that also means it’s a whole lot more expensive.
But to these developers, it doesn’t really matter how valuable the land is if they can’t turn it into cash and get it off their list of liabilities.
And that’s why NOW presents a very interesting opportunity for land investors.
Because there are deals like I’ve not seen before. EVER.
It’s not everyday that the big guys are in a position that puts YOU in the driver’s seat.
What Would Bob Hope Do?
Now think about this. Bob Hope made his fortune in land.
But when Bob Hope was investing, we weren’t in a down market.
He was paying good money for good land. And he STILL made a killing.
Just imagine what would have happened to Bob Hope’s real estate returns had he bought in a market where the BUYER has as much power as he does right now.
That surely would have brought a big smile to Bob’s face.
When I say that the land business can be good in an up market or down market, this is why.
A down market is where you get the deals.
An up market is where you get paid for being smart during a down market.
It’s really pretty darn simple.
