Deconstructing the Myth of Financial Independence

March 20th, 2011
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Deconstructing the Myth of Financial Independence:

A Deeper Look at ‘Pieces of the Puzzle’ Theory

Operating on ‘Level III’ Thinking

Written by Robert Feol, for the Baltimore Real Estate Investor’s Association

‘Chance Favors the Prepared Mind…’

- Louis Pasteur

Sitting at my camp in the Adirondack Mountains, having done my radio broadcast from the actual property(not a studio), and based on the massive response I have been receiving from the listeners, has me thinking today about the true cost of financial freedom, which I believe Read the rest of this entry »

Is It Worth Paying a Consulting Fee???

June 7th, 2010
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“It is not wise for a blind man, riding a blind horse, to approach the edge of a deep pond.” (Chinese proverb)

When I returned from Don Derosas’ and Pete Youngs’ Investor Bonanza in Atlanta last week, I checked my voicemail.  My cell phone provider has a strange way of not letting me know I missed calls or have voice mails, so even though I tried to return all of the calls that I missed, somehow I still ended up with 14 messages.  In my kitchen, after setting my bags down, I began to scribe the names and numbers of callers who left messages.  I had missed several calls from radio program listeners, and began returning those immediately.

Now, callers from the show tend to fall into one of three categories, as follows: Read the rest of this entry »

Where’s My Check?

June 7th, 2010

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Robert Feol explores the ‘new’ way of doing business, taught by some of his ‘colleagues’ in the industry!

2009 was  a rough year for me.  Really rough.  It’s not worth getting into, really. I wrote a great 1000 page, very descriptive and detailed tale of how this took place for this article, but for the sake of brevity/space,  I’ll summarize the story for you in one sentence, 2009 as follows:

On January 4th 2009, my income from the wholesale real estate company I built for 3 years went to zero, unexpectedly– found myself with about 200k of unexpected debt from this – got to spend 12 months figuring out how to rebuild years of work by myself.

The end.

Read the rest of this entry »

Buying From Wholesalers – Why Do It?

January 10th, 2010

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Perils, Pitfalls, and Promises

Buying investment real estate from a wholesaler can seem, at times, like a good idea.  I should know – I was a full time wholesaler for the past 3.5 years, and founded one of the top wholesale companies in the Mid South.  Anyway, I know wholesaling – but the question is, do you?

Wholesaling is essentially buying a property not from a licensed broker or Realtor, but from an individual who usually controls the property through a Purchase and Sale Agreement.  The difference is, essentially, that when you buy from a wholesaler you are not buying it at cost: you are buying it at their cost plus a premium markup.

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Your First Out of State Investment

November 12th, 2009
With the skyrocketing prices of properties in coastal markets today, real estate investors are searching for alternative opportunities where they can place their investment dollars. Many investors who are considering making a purchase in an out of state, lower priced location (such as Memphis, TN) are unsure of where to begin. While they know that they need a solid team to assist with their investment, they usually are unsure about exactly how they will find the team that will serve them in the most effective fashion. That is where we come in.

Generally, the following members are critical to your success when you are setting up for business and need to use a team of contractors and vendors in the world of real estate investing: Read the rest of this entry »

Identifying the Risk of Ruin

October 12th, 2009
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Analyzing Real Estate Prospects

In the statistical world, or more specifically the world of probability, the term ‘risk of ruin’ is usually defined in terms as the threshold chance that someone’s risk of loss exists(relative to their current financial/investing pursuit), in as much that if they were to suffer large and prolonged losses over a period of time, their capital base would be eroded to the point where it would be highly unlikely that they could continue their financial endeavors with any chance of success.  This article is not a primer in statistical probability, but for the sake of this article it is helpful to understand what this term means a bit more to see its application for today’s modern real estate investor. Read the rest of this entry »

Blogging the Bonanza – Day 1

October 1st, 2009

1.) To follow the path, look to the master,

Follow the master, walk with the master.

See through the master, become the master.

2.) From the withered tree, a flower blooms

-Zen Proverbs

Day I

What is interesting to me, and I mean really interesting, is that the more we become connected as a global society, and the more that information becomes freely available through the internet, the harder it is to find people that are not only true experts in their chosen discipline, but who are also able to teach their subject matter with great facility and in doing so create a student who is ultimately capable of emulating their success.  Listeners of my radio show know that, whenever people offer to be your ‘mentor’ without you asking, you need to run the other way.  Along these lines I have found, personally, that it is hard to find people who lead by example and have integrity.  Knowing this, Read the rest of this entry »

The Art of the Transaction and the Responsibility of Trust

September 26th, 2009

Shannon Feol, Guest Contributor

You would think that as a full-time investor, buying and selling deals everyday would become “routine” and that at some point you could just run your business by going through the motions,  time and time again.  I am sure there are some investors that operate like that.  Even more so, I’m sure that this mindset is common among residential retail agents.  But as I contemplate this idea, I realize how differently Robert and I operate our business.

Every transaction that takes place is like a fingerprint, never exactly identical to another. Read the rest of this entry »

Radio, Workshops, and a Little Inspiration

September 24th, 2009

Shannon Feol, Guest contributor

We had a busy but great day yesterday.  Robert had Don Derosa and Pete Youngs on the radio show yesterday morning.  They spoke a lot about private lending – which is getting ever so popular these days, and had quite a few callers.  Don and Pete have a huge event coming up on September 30th in Atlanta called Investor Bonanza, a 5-day investor boot-camp.  Robert will be there to emcee.  Should be a POWERFUL event!  Listen to the latest show here:  http://www.wrecradio.com/pages/expert.html

Meanwhile, I was getting ready for the investing workshop yesterday afternoon.  Robert, Jim Reedy, and Craig Jennings shared the microphone and talked about getting started in real estate, building a power team,  and financial goal setting.  We had about 45 attendees and a catered lunch, and we got some great feedback.  Save-1-Pets, a local animal rescue group, was there with two dogs and a cat and we took donations to help their organization.  We raised over $800!  We had about 45 people in attendance, saw some familiar faces and a lot of new ones.  I am looking forward to following up on Monday with new contacts I made at the meeting!

We will have another workshop next month, date TBA.   Read the rest of this entry »

Upcoming Workshop Event in Memphis!

September 8th, 2009

Pieces of the Puzzle: Community Education Workshop Series

Introduction to the Fundamentals of Real Estate Investing and Financial Goal Setting

Robert Feol and Jim Reedy, Instructors

The fundamentals of real estate investing form the core of a successful investing experience.  As such, it is critical that potential investors set themselves up with a knowledge based foundation for success.  It seems like, with the advent of today’s glitzy infomercials, there are very few opportunities to get real knowledge without some type of substantial cost or hidden strings.  Robert and Jim continue their community education workshop series by focusing on the foundation of real estate investing and financial goal setting, asking and answering questions such as:

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"One Saturday I was driving around listening to Robert Feol’s[the founder of DiscountPropertyWarehouse.net] radio show and decided to e-mail him to see if he could help me get involved. He immediately called me and we later met and looked at properties. Thanks to Robert I’m living proof you can do what I thought because I just did it. Like anything else people do business with you for only one reason. They trust you. I trust Robert and look forward to doing more deals with him.”
M. Post
Memphis, Tennessee