Traci Gregory, Financier

Checklist || 101 Things to consider when you're becoming a real estate investor (originally published Sunday, April 02, 2006)

101 things?

There are probably 1,001 things you should think about, strategize and take care of before you become an investor - But you won't, you'll do them as they occur, because if you didn't, if you stopped and did all of them, you'd put off buying houses til the list was complete! And, I don't recommend that at all.

You should

Prepare Financially

Prepare Legally

Prepare Professionally . . . and that's what this list is about.

These are things that no one would ever dream could affect a loan decision . . . and, after 20 years in this business, I've seen all kinds of things that can affect a loan decision. And affect it in a bad way. So here are some problems I've had to overcome for my clients, and some suggestions on how to do that ahead of time, not when you have just lost an underwriting approval.

Cell Phones

Do you, like everyone else, run your business from a cell phone? They aren't listed as a business phone number in the phone book . . . they're hardly listed ANYWHERE. In the world underwriters live in, businesses have listings in a phone book . . . or they have listings in the yellow pages . . . So, you need to establish your business as a real business in another way: Flyers, newspaper ads that you have cut out of the paper and saved to your computer so you can use and reuse them, a photograph of that car of yours that has the big sign, "We buy Ugly Houses". You get the picture.

How do you answer the cell phone that is your business? "Hello" "Yeah" "Whats happenin?"

When a lender calls to verify employment, they want to know that the number they are calling is a real business, not the cell phone number of someone you've asked to verify your employment for you. . . There are only two ways to answer the phone when that happens, and you might as well get into the habit now, before you need to, and they are: "Ugly House Buyers" or even easier, with your name.

When someone calls and gets your voice mail, is it a message your child recorded for you and you left it? Is that really what you want your renters to hear? Or the advisors you are PAYING to help you become a successful investor? Appraisers? Inspectors? City and County Government officials? Your mortgage banker? Do you want them to know they've called the right number and are leaving a message to which you will respond? Or, do you want them to wonder what you're thinking?

Do you have 30 seconds of dramatic music BEFORE your message? Do you want them to hear music or the message? And, will they wait through the music to get to your message? Think about it.

Email

If you're like the rest of the world, you have an email address that came with your internet access, or that you picked up at a free service . . . If you have your own website, I have some suggestions about that too, but this is about email addresses.

If your email address is moneymamma@hotmail.com or j479reo4429@excite.com what are you telling people? Perhaps money momma does express who I am to my children . . . but it certainly isn't who I am to other professionals, particularly those who pay me! (Don't send me email there - I made that one up!)

And sweetemotion@yahoo.com may mean a lot to other Aerosmith fans, but it doesn't make me think you're serious about your real estate career.

My suggestion is that you think of a professional email address, that is as simple as possible to have someone type in the first time . . . true, once it is in an address book correctly, you're home free, but if it goes in wrong the first time, you have a chance of losing mail to it every time someone wants to get in touch with you. Combining letters and numbers is a great rule for passwords . . . it just isn't for email addresses.

WEB SITES

If you're going to get a website, there are a LOT of things to consider, and one of the most important is the domain name you buy. You probably already know that top level domain names are going to help in search engines, and that you want to put all the information you can into them.

My websites are named for what they are: Georgia Mortgage Money.Com, Stock Loans Blog.Com, etc. etc. Most people don't actually type those names into their web browsers, they find them on Google, or they hit a link they've got in their email. When they do have to type them, I've found that not everyone in the world can actually spell Mortgage . . . so they may not have been the most perfect choices, but they do say what I've got . . .

When you have houses 4sale.com, and you tell people your website is "houses4 (thats the number 4) sale.com" you may realize the 4 that looks good in the url, or that was all that was available when you bought the domain, may not have been the best idea in the world.

And my last thought about websites - I'm a .com snob. I think most people are programmed to type .com, not .net, not .bz, or .us . . . . they think of websites as dot.com.

I think taking a url name that is .net, because the one you really wanted is already sold is a bad idea. When we're busy, thinking, juggling phones, typing urls or emails into a keyboard, our brains push .com into our fingertips, with no conscious effort. If you're .net, chances are you're giving someone with the .com name some of your business, and perhaps lots of your email.

I do think that if you have a successful website you probably should buy the extensions, just so someone else won't buy them to pick up some of your business, but I think the fallout is more likely to go to the .com website than the .biz.

And a simple solution to both the email and the website name is . . . your name. I bought tracigregory.com specifically for the email address traci@tracigregory.com - is really easy to tell people, and easy for them to remember. I've since started adding things to it, it is after all a domain that gets traffic, so there might as well be something on it worthwhile! And I could buy 100 other domain names that mean something about what I do . . . investorstrategy.com, realestateinvestinginfo.com OR wealthbuildingthrurealestate.com . . . and point them to that domain so that I picked up the search engine business I want, but had a really easy to remember email address and domain URL.

Our job is to make sure you have the money to do what you want to do building your portfolio. Your job is to find houses that work for you. Just makes sense to work together.

Trace

INNOVATIVE FINANCING

In the days where one only hears about the credit crisis and lack of liquidity, people are stymied on where to turn to finance their latest projects. While the reality is there has been a huge change in residential financing (probably for the better, and probably forever!) commercial lending programs have not been affected as much, although lately commercial lenders are finding it harder to sell their paper because of lack of liquidity in the market in general.

As it is harder to get the money to get projects off the ground, we’ve tried to stay ahead of the curve and maintain as many options for our borrowers as possible. While there are still straightforward choices like SBA loans and commercial loans for expansion, purchases and refinances, and Church loans based on tithing, we’ve found there are other forms of financing that aren’t as complicated or time consuming and for the most part also aren’t as costly as traditional financing.

I’ve added stockloans from Hedgelender to my portfolio of products and capital advances against credit cards.

The beauty of both programs is they are not based on applications, financial statements, tax returns or credit criteria. And they both fund VERY quickly.

Stock Loans can be used for any number of things, and can be made through a myriad of choices. Here are some highlights:

• Finance your real estate with interest-only repayment while still retaining participation in your stock portfolio;

• Refinance your MARGIN LOAN to remove the possibility of a call;

• Expand Your Business with interest-only repayment while still retaining participation in your stock portfolio;

• Diversity Your Investments while retaining beneficial ownership of your portfolio;

• Roll your Employee Stock Options into cash while continuing to participate in your stock.

Ironically, these loans run to the millions and sometimes tens of millions, and take 1/10th the time to process and fund. And, they are strictly based on the worth of the stock and the amount of shares traded; the ONLY collateral is the stock and . . . credit is NOT a criteria. Neither is purpose, as long as it is legal!

Capital Advances against credit cards is NOT a loan program - but is a purchase of future sales.

Like the stock loan, there is NO long application, financial statement requirement OR tax return requirement; Funds immediately based on credit card sales; factors ALL credit cards receivables - Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover.

Clients are using the money for expansion and renovation; Marketing and Advertising; purchase of new locations; Increases to inventory; purchasing much needed equipment Repairs and upgrades; buying out an existing partner; recapture of investment capital; even to pay bills and taxes.

Finer explanations and details are listed on my website PallasFinancier.Com.

Brad Inman on the collapse of the secondary housing market

Brad Inman is founder and publisher of Inman News.

In the afternath of the news about fannie mae, freddie mac and the NEW IndyMac FEDERAL BANK, Brad Inman made ten predictions about the collapse of the secondary housing market.

"...Those that do lend will revert to back-to-basics underwriting: perfect credit, large down payments, proof of income, personal character and good family upbringing.

"...Housing industry lobbyists will make the mortgage liquidity problem their number one policy issue in the next two years. They will argue that the sky is falling and it is.

"...Like so many parts of our American culture, the accessibility to unlimited and poorly scrutinized debt helped turn Americans into a sloppy group of consumers, which spawned greedy Wall Streeters, out of control lenders and starry-eyed investors."

Read all ten, and the rest of his article at Imagine housing without a secondary market

Quick Notes from all over . . . indictments at Bear Stearns . . . a new kind of black widow (!) and loans for foreign nationals again (hooray!)

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York handed down indictments for Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin formerly with Bear Stearns.  You may or may not recognize them as the brains (if you will forgive me) behind the Bear Stearns High Grade Structured Credit Strategies Fund (begun  in 2003) and the Bear Stearns High Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Fund (begun  in 2006), both of which failed miserably earlier this year.

From the US Attorney's Office (Eastern District of New York) Press Release   "... The indictment alleges that by March 2007, the defendants believed that the Funds were in grave condition and at risk of collapse.

However, rather than alerting the Funds’ investors and creditors to the bleak prospects of the Funds and facilitating an orderly wind-down, the defendants made misrepresentations to stave off withdrawal of investor funds and increased margin calls from creditors in the ultimately futile hope that the Funds’ prospects would improve and that the defendants’ incomes and reputations would remain intact. " (italics all mine)

"... The subsequent collapse of the Funds during the summer of 2007 resulted in losses to investors totaling more than $1 billion."

CIOFFI was also charged with insider trading, as I understand it, for moving TWO MILLION DOLLARS OF HIS OWN MONEY out of the fund and into another.

Probably one that didn't fail, doncha guess?

Attorneys for the men maintain their innocence . . . Well, would they get paid otherwise?

Read the Press Release in its entirety here

I understand the FBI is investigating 19 other companies who were originating and securitizing sub-prime loans for accounting fraud, insider trading, and the failure to disclose true valuations.

Lovely

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July 6 2008 Update to Bear Stearns indictments

Dan Slater writes in the Wall Street Journal LAW BLOG: Bear Fund Managers Get Good Draw, Sizing Up Judge Block

So, Justice Carries a Swift Sword?  We'll See - Curiously, a poster named "Anonymous", says the sub-prime mess  . . . has plenty of people who deserve fines and jail time . . . BUT these guys are not the scapegoats we need."

Well, gee, they thought up the hedge funds, created them, bought the mortgage backed securities, and then (!) CIOFFI was charged with insider trading for moving TWO MILLION DOLLARS OF HIS MONEY out of the fund . . . leaving institutional investors in the fund with no warning . . . when they knew the fund was in danger.

They may not be the scapegoats we NEED, but it certainly appears they need to be in front of a judge for the way they ran that fund!

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Billed as social networking with a bite  (pun intended I suppose) the Black Widow Network is designed to send real estate investment deals direct to your in-box . . .

Other websites designed to take advantage of REOs and the possibility of making money off them are

• BiggerPockets.Com
• PropertyShark.Com
• Krunching.Com

If you're looking for deals - try them out -

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I've finally located three lenders that will work with Foreign Nationals.  So I'm taking those applications again --

Requirements include:

• Assets Held in Foreign Accounts must be in English and I need copies of statements for two months.
• Seller concessions are held to a maximum of 3% and are ONLY acceptable on second homes.
• Single Family Dwellings, PUDS, Warrantable Low and High Rise Condos are the properties . . . that means NO CONDOTELS
• FULL DOCUMENTATION ON INCOME AND ASSETS
• 30 year fixed, no prepayment penalty
• 75% maximum LTV

That's all I've got for today . . .  pax et bonum

...

Jim Cramer talks about DB (my mini-cooper) || Now I’m Hedge Lender® Approved Agent

In Jim Cramer's Mad Money lightening round on Friday June 27 he said, "In the end, people aren't spending… they are on the Interstate and you just don't feel rich anymore when you're on the Interstate, unless you're driving a Mini Cooper."

Meet DB, my mini-cooper . . .

I don't feel rich on the Interstate, but I'm not bleeding money for gas anymore. I went from $95 a week for the truck I was driving to about $40 every other week. The savings almost equals the car payment AND it is a kick to drive!

I've just learned that I'm now an authorized agent for Hedge Lender. They have programs for Stock Loans and an amazing customer service approach. Highlights are

• Employee Stock Options Solution Using HedgeLoan®
• Margin Loan Rescue Solution Using HedgeLoan®
• Expanding Business Financing Solution Using HedgeLoan®
• Real Estate Purchasing Solution Using HedgeLoan®
• Diversify Investments Solution Using HedgeLoan®

HedgeLoan Stock Loans for Business Expansion Capital...

John Shareholder owns a farm with a 10% interest note that collateralized by all of his equipment and most of his other farm assets. He needs expansion capital and owns 100,000 shares of the stock XYZ worth $10 a share, but he expects good news this year that will boost the stock's price and doesn't want to liquidate.

Solution: With a HedgeLoan® @ 6.99% interest fixed, he can refinance the farm, get the capital to grow the business and remove the liens from all other assets. If his favorite stock goes up, he can participate in the upside, and if it goes down, he can exercise his right to default on the loan (with no reporting to credit bureaus) and the collateral stocks acting as full satisfaction of the HedgeLoan obligation.

PIPE Replacement Solution

A publicly trading company needs to raise $1,000,000 in capital but can't do asset-based lending and can't afford to wait for a PIPE to be completed.

Solution: Use a HedgeLoan® stock-secured loan to do an off-balance sheet financing with shareholders friendly to the issuer and gain flexibility and greater shareholder loyalty in the process.

Think of the benefits:

• it can help enhance the value of the collateral pledged for the HedgeLoan®;
• be structured so that borrower also receives warrants which could have considerable added value (terms negotiated with the issuer).
• no debt service - since the borrower's note will run concurrent with the stock loan, the debt service will be covered by interest paid to borrower on note (payment terms and dates can be structured to fall just prior to due date on HedgeLoan®.)

Quick funding – 2 weeks or less possible vs. many months with PIPE or secondary offerings. Many registration and legal costs associated with PIPE or secondary offerings are not required with a HedgeLoan® solution. Shares go (via warrants) to presumably friendly hands (current large shareholders) rather than to unknown parties.

Stay in and Out of the Market at the Same Time - with HedgeLoan® Stock Loans

I'll try to go over each of them in the next day or two – in the meantime, you can call me 770.333.4404 or send an email traci@tracigregory.com if you have questions.

You may read my full Disclaimer including definition of "approved agent" .

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

Nassim Nicholas Taleb (essayist and mathematical trader) writes in a sometimes stilted and perhaps condescending fashion - but his book is entertaining, and for the most part interesting.  He truly rakes over the coals the experts  on Wall Street who make predictions based on historical data (perhaps this could include the buying and selling of mortgage backed securities?) because they use trends, and ignore the improbable.

His outlook is to first acknowledge the black swan; and then employ it, to his advantage.  His belief is that we neither make huge gains nor have huge losses through the historical, only through the improbable, or unthinkable.

The name "The Black Swan . . ." is taken from the fact that for years the world knew there were NO black swans; using the metaphor "black swan" meant nonexistent.  Then Black Swans  were discovered in Australia. 

Taleb's black swan is " . . .  a large-impact, hard-to-predict, and rare event beyond the realm of normal expectations."  September 11, 2001 is referred to as a "black swan".

Real Estate investors know that now is the perfect time to buy real estate with the foreclosure market being what it is, but it is a dreadful time to get a loan for real estate.  As a large-impact, unpredicted and rare event, it seems to qualify as a black swan.  So, if we acknowledge it, how to use it?

Borrowers are certainly being given every opportunity to get refinanced on loans in default in ways that no one would have ever thought possible - the FHA Secure program will allow a refinance to people ONLY IN DEFAULT and allow them to keep the second mortgage they have now.  Lenders are developing programs that will allow a cltv of 125%; refinancing what was an 80% first mortgage up to 100% value and allowing the second to stay, increasing the loan to 120% of the value of the property.  I wouldn't want to owe 25% more than my house was worth, but it beats foreclosure.

For real estate investors (and I'm not recommending speculation here . . . take note) there are properties that were manipulated by developers and builders that could present a powerful black swan advantage in the price they're getting now, and the equity they afford.  I've seen condos in Atlanta that were listed for $1,000,000 sell for $250,000 in bank sales in the last month.  They're a bargain at $250K even if the market takes a couple of years to recover.

This is the time to think outside the box - and stay on the lookout for the black swan.

Rock Czar of Real Estate, Frank McKinney

I've recently discovered Frank McKinney, named by the WSJ as the Rock Czar of Real Estate, and I must say, I've fallen for him.

He has shoulder length blonde hair, and for me, that's a great start, but as a businessman, he is someone to be reckoned with and I have a great admiration for what he has done in his life, and the way he has done it.

He started out with a $50,000 bungalow in South Florida and now builds $100 million estate homes that are sold by Sotheby's . . . What a difference 20 years will make, huh?

I'd guess the reason more of us haven't heard of him is because his market is limited to a small percentage of the world population, but I highly recommend a) reading his book Frank McKinney's Maverick Approach to Real Estate Success and b) putting his principles to work in your life!

Buy it used, get it from the library, or get it from Amazon, but if you're a real estate investor, there is something in that book for you.