8/22/10: What is Your Risk Paradigm? A Life or Debt Decision
Protecting your money in today’s highly uncertain economy is surely very challenging. Remember when real estate equity and bank accounts were considered among the SAFEST places to keep your savings? Today, real estate equity has disappeared – and for many people even getting access to whatever equity they still have is next to impossible. Boy, do we miss those equity lines of credit with their checkbooks and debit cards!
And even though you can still write checks on your cash deposits at a bank, with record bank failures even that old saying “sure as money in the bank” seems a little outdated. Add horribly low interest rates and, to compound the injury, taxes on your meager interest earnings, it’s enough to make you wonder what this financial world is coming to.
Well, we have good news. There’s a new way to look at an old product – one that is time tested and has survived its fair share of economic turmoil. And we got such a positive response to our first foray into this topic, we decided to re-visit it with a new guest.
In the radio lifeboat for another voyage into broadcasting brilliance:
- Host and head lifeguard, Robert Helms
- Co-host and lifeboat inflater, Russell Gray
- Seasoned sailer of stormy economic seas, the Godfather of Real Estate, Bob Helms
- Special guest, “infinite banking” expert, Patrick Donohoe
Right out of the gate we need to set the table, which is no small task with the lifeboat bobbing on the waves: what does life insurance have to do with real estate investing? Think about what a bank account has to do with real estate investing and you’re on the right track. But unlike a bank account, our guest explains that certain types of life insurance – thought greatly misunderstood – offer far greater flexibility than bank accounts. And though they aren’t FDIC insured, insurance companies are arguably more stable and conservatively run. Unlike banks right now, you don’t hear a lot about record number of life insurance companies failing.
We also address why so many CONSUMER financial gurus are down on cash value life insurance, yet corporations like Wells Fargo and Wal-Mart buy tons of it. Could it be there are BUSINESS purposes that make it very useful for BUSINESS people? We say all the time that real estate investing is a business, so it makes good sense to see how businesses are using this financial tool. For example, how’d you like you to take a tax deduction for making a deposit in your bank account? Hmmm….that’s an interesting concept! What about getting a loan against your equity without having to qualify? Try doing that with a property! And unlike property, the value isn’t determined by market forces, so your equity doesn’t disappear in a market downturn.
The point of this episode is that insurance can do a lot more than manage risk and pay a benefit. Our job is to expose you to some of the possibilities. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to explore those possibilities, learn how to use this powerful tool, and decide when and where to use it to advance your real estate investing program. It seems the economic storm isn’t over yet, so it might be a good idea to know how to operate the lifeboat. It’s a matter of life and debt.
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8/1/10: Economics, Politics and Real Estate – Interviews from Freedom Fest 2010
If you’re one of those who take The Real Estate Guys™ to the gym, make sure you carbo load first! This one’s a whopper! Our radio audience only got an hour, but the podcast audience gets the whole enchilada. That way whether you like American or Mexican, there’s something for everyone.
A few weeks back, we went to Las Vegas for the 7th Annual Freedom Fest conference. This was our first time and we weren’t sure what to expect. But after our previous interview with event founder, economist Mark Skousen, we thought it would be worthwhile. It turned out even better than we thought!
After being near the epicenter of the financial earthquake which rocked the real estate portfolios of even the most experienced investors, we’ve put a big emphasis on studying economics. Who cares if you’re expert at fixing up properties, managing tenants or putting together syndications if property values are crashing, tenants don’t have jobs, loans aren’t available, and people are too scared to act?
So we started looking for people who saw it coming, put their predictions in writing and got it right for the right reasons. Hindsight’s often 20/20, but seeing the storm coming 
while there’s still time to shutter the windows is better. You might not be able to avoid bad economic weather, but with advance notice at least you can prepare!
We looked at the lineup of speakers at Freedom Fest and decided this would surely be an eye-opening experience. We were especially excited about Peter Schiff, author of Crash Proof 2.0 (a highly recommended read!). Schiff called the crisis for the right reasons – and way ahead of time. We’re happy to say we got a lengthy interview with Mr. Schiff to see what he’s thinking now – which is the feature of our next show.
While we’re boasting about awesome interviews, we also had a chance to talk with billionaire CEO of Forbes Magazine and former Presidential candidate, Steve Forbes. That interview is coming up in a couple of weeks, so stay tuned! The best way to be sure you don’t miss any of our exciting episodes is to subscribe to our podcast via iTunes (shameless plug). 
Today’s episode is about talking to LOTS of people! It was like one of those speed dating sessions. Robert sat at the microphone from early morning to late at night, and Russ rounded up a long line of interesting people to interview.
Featured in this episode of The Real Estate Guys™ Radio Show:
- Your host, Robert Helms
- Co-host and cat herder, Russell Gray
And a long parade of very special guests (in order of appearance):
Jeffrey Verdon, Attorney, talks about estate planning and asset protection strategies utilized by wealthy individuals; including off-shore entities and a very interesting technique for funding life insurance.
Dave Fessler, Energy & Infrastructure Expert for the Oxford Club. Dave discusses his views on the future of energy and infrastructure and their impact on jobs and the economy. He also comments on “the paradox of thrift” – how consumer savings is actually fueling the recession. He tells us how long he thinks it’s going to last, and where he believes America’s best chance for job creation are right now.
Bob Bauman, Attorney, Former U.S. Congressman, Founder of The Sovereign Society; shares his thoughts on offshore investment, asset protection, second citizenship and the growing interest many people have in diversifying globally.
Vernon Jacobs, CPA, is an expert in international taxation. Vern tells us what to consider when investing or employing asset protection strategies offshore.
Robert Barnes, Attorney, is part one of two back to back interviews with lawyers from a premier tax and investment fraud law firm that went 3 for 3 (that’s pretty good!) in three of the top four high profile tax cases in the U.S. (you’d recognize the names). Mr. Barnes reveals the worst thing you can do when contacted by the IRS.
Robert Bernhoft, Attorney, is part two of our tax and investment fraud attorney interviews. Mr. Bernhoft describes what you can do to proactively avoid problems with both your investors and regulators; and shares how his firm uses specialized “non-litigation” techniques to recover misappropriated funds without going to court.
Steve Hochberg, Chief Market Analyst for Elliott Wave, works closely with Robert Prechter. Prechter’s 2002 NY Times best seller, Conquer the Crash, accurately predicted the current financial crisis. While everyone is running scared of inflation, Steve says DEFLATION is actually the big near term threat. He believes we are “on the precipice of the greatest stock market decline of our lifetime.”
Patri Friedman, Executive Director and Chairman of the Board of The Seasteading Institute. A city on the sea? Really??? Before you write it off as Looney Tunes, go to their website and look at their management team. These guys are all brilliant. We’re talking Stanford, Harvard, Yale. Wow. Have you heard of Pay Pal? Yeah,the founder is on their board. And why were they at Freedom Fest? Take a listen!
Leon Louw, Executive Director of the Free Market Foundation, all the way from South Africa! Why? To raise money to advance property ownership rights for blacks in South Africa. For what it’s worth, we didn’t see any evidence of racism at Freedom Fest, though it was full of “tea baggers”. Obviously, Leon felt people at the event would be supportive of his cause. From our observations he was right. But this isn’t a political interview. any more than our show is political. We just want to understand what people are thinking and doing, and how it creates or undermines real estate opportunities. Think about the ramifications on demand in a market where a large part of the population, formerly locked out, suddenly has access to buy property. Very interesting stuff.
Terry Coxon, author of Unleash Your IRA, shares a powerful concept for maximizing your Individual Retirement Account. We thought we knew all about this topic, but Terry shares a strategy we hadn’t considered. Now we’re hyped to read his book. With the demise of home equity, and a growing number of people predicting a tough stock market (at best); and lending getting even tighter from financial reform, we think IRA’s and rollover 401k’s are one of the BEST sources of private investment capital. That makes this a topic worth exploring!
Ron Holland, editor of two financial newsletters and 30 year financial industry veteran, has something to say on the topic of IRA’s. And it’s concerning. He shares what he thinks is the greatest threat to your retirement account.
Terry Easton, author of Refounding America and contributor to Human Events. Terry is uber-conservative / Libertarian and has a lot to say on the topics of economics, politics and real estate. We came to hear a lot of opinions and it just so happens that Terry has a lot of opinions. But since they come from a long history of study and involvement, we think they’re worth listening to.
All in all, Freedom Fest was a great experience and we’re very likely to attend next year’s event. We met great people, got valuable insights, and had our paradigms stretched (we’ve been icing them since we got back). Most of all, we see the economy and real estate from a much broader perspective. As we continue to seek out markets, opportunities and product niches to invest in, we are convinced a bigger perspective will pay huge dividends.
Remember – our next two episodes feature our interviews with Peter Schiff and Steve Forbes!
The Real Estate Guys™ Radio Show provides ideas, perspectives and resources to help real estate investors succeed.
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7/25/10: Entrepreneurs in the New Economy – Getting Paid to Solve Problems
Do you remember the old “new” economy? That was the one where technology companies could go public without profit. In some cases, they didn’t even need revenue. Ahhhh, those were the days.
The new “new” economy (the Great Recession one) hasn’t been nearly as fun – unless you’re an old school entrepreneur. That’s the kind who looks at problems as opportunities. Guys (and gals) like that are having a lot of fun right now because there are opportunities galore coming out of the Great Recession.
The Real Estate Guys™ headed off to Freedom Fest in Las Vegas a few weeks back. We heard that money manager / economist / author / Senate candidate Peter Schiff would be there (among many other people with very strong opinions about the U.S. economy) and we wanted to do some interviews. We’re happy to report we got lots of great stuff, including Mr. Schiff and the CEO of Forbes Magazine, Steve Forbes. Watch for those interviews in future broadcasts.
So we fly into Las Vegas in our private jet (the one operated by Southwest Airlines), and get to the convention venue and start setting up our booth. Before the event had even started, a man stops by and sees our banner for Belize (we were promoting our upcoming field trip to Belize) and asks a few questions. The short of it is that we find out he’s working on a very exciting project in the Caribbean – one that solves a problem we’ve been trying to figure out too. Russ gets so excited that he hugs the guy. Very weird.
After the appropriate apologies and some follow up male bonding, our new friend agrees to do a radio interview. And that’s what this broadcast is all about.
Manning the microphones for this edition of The Real Estate Guys™ Radio Show:
- Your host, the Larry King of real estate radio, Robert Helms
- Co-host, our “I love you, man” booth babe, Russell Gray
- Special Guest, Investment Banker, Entrepreneur and assault victim, Jeff Villwock
Any time we get around smart people, we jump on the opportunity to talk with them. In this case, Russ literally jumped on Jeff. When Jeff recovered, we got him on the mic, so you can listen to what he’s doing, where he’s doing it and why. There’s lots of lessons to be gleaned!
Freedom Fest is an event that attracts people with strong political opinions. In many of the interviews we did there, those opinions come out. Great! We think the world works better when people respectfully debate important issues. Sharing ideas is among the most sacred of our freedoms, especially if you’re radio guys.
We also realize that the U.S. (the bulk of our audience) is pretty polarized right now. Now, we love our entire audience and our show isn’t political. However, policies affect economics and economics affects real estate. There shouldn’t be a serious student of real estate who can look at the last several years and deny that. So politics are going to get into the discourse from time to time, which is a very good thing.
We think these Freedom Fest interviews are great. If you disagree with the political views of our guests, don’t let that get in the way of hearing what’s being said. Here’s why: a big part of real estate investing is understanding demographics and human nature. How people think and believe affects where they (and their money) will be moving. Even if you disagree with them, if they believe it, it will affect their actions. So YOU need to understand them (even if you disagree) if you want to anticipate their behavior.
Did we mention that Jeff’s project is in St. Kitts? It just so happens that St. Kitts is one of the stops on our upcoming 9th Annual Summit at Sea! So we ask Jeff if we can visit his project as part of our already planned real estate shore excursion in St. Kitts. Not only does Jeff agree to allow us to visit, he says he’ll meet us there and show us around. Awesome!
Once again, we’re reminded of the importance of getting out of our cubicles and into the world where real people are. No doubt that virtual networking is powerful, but just as phones did not replace face to face meetings, neither will social media replace conventions as a great place to make important connections. This is one of the reasons we attend trade shows and promote our field trips and the Summit at Sea™. It’s a great way to get to know great people in the real world. We hope to see YOU at one very soon!
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7/4/10: Profiting from Your Vacation – Exploring New Markets in Your Bathing Suit
Most people don’t get into real estate investing because they like tenants, toilets and all the tribulations you go through. And most of the time, they don’t get into properties they would like to live in or visit on vacation. In fact, most investors would be happy if they never saw their properties. That’s probably why stock investing is so popular. You just buy a line item on your brokerage statement. You never visit the company or meet the management. It’s all very sterile and anesthetized. Maybe that’s why you almost can’t feel it when the stock market gives you a networthectomy. But we digress (how unusual).
Anyway, with summer time in full swing and people heading off for a well-deserved vacation, we thought it would be refreshing to talk about how to combine real estate business with vacationing pleasure.
In the radio mini-van, headed to the beach of broadcasting for fun in the sun and investing too:
- Your host and mini-van driver, Robert Helms
- Captain Speedo, Russell Gray
- The Godfather of Real Estate, Bob “Board Shorts” Helms
Before we hit the road of conversation we do a quick check of the packing list. Did we remember to pack our investor mindset? What about our notebook to keep track of our ideas, conversations and those all important (potentially) tax-deductible expenses?
We’re all good, so off we go!
Since most people don’t vacation in C-class neighborhoods, we start our conversation on the idea of resort area investing. But as soon as we jump out of the mini-van, we are faced with that ugly limiting belief, “I can’t afford it”. It’s easy to look at real estate in a beautiful area and disqualify yourself before you even get started. So we talk about how to push through the traffic of doubt in one’s mind by asking the question, “How can I afford it?”
We decide to ride this train of thought and talk about the importance of getting the right answers and advisors, by learning how to ask the right questions. Bad questions yield bad answers. It’s like, “Which Speedo looks best on Russ?” That’s a bad question (and worse visual) with no good answer.
Of course, we can’t miss the opportunity for some shameless self-promotion, so we hang a u-turn on the notion of making one’s vacation an opportunity to look for real estate. What about the idea of using a real estate trip as a vacation? Many of our listeners have come with us on our Investor Summit at Sea™ or field trips to Belize, Cabo San Lucas or other fun places we’ve gone. Even though the main purpose of the trip is to look at real estate, is it against the rules to have fun? So, when time and budget is limited, it just makes good sense to leverage your vacation / real estate “research and development” budgets.
We have a fun time with this show. We think you’ll like it too!
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6/27/10: Cashing In on the Changing Retail Market
Retail real estate across the country has been mauled by the recent bear market. Many large retail centers are vacant and dilapidated, while many more are under performing. What’s next for retail? More importantly, what’s the opportunity? To find out, The Real Estate Guys™ call on a big deal hunter who has over 30 years and billions of dollars of experience!
On safari in the studio for this broadcast:
- Driving the jeep in his khaki’s and bush jacket, host Robert Helms
- Pushing the jeep in his leopard skin loin cloth, co-host Russell Gray
- Riding shotgun and snacking on frikkadels, the Godfather of Real Estate, Bob Helms
- Big deal hunter, special guest Tom Morris
When you enter the jungle of real estate investing to hunt for opportunity, you never know what challenges will cross your path. Many obstacles and dangers can be avoided. Others must be met head on. Of course, when you’re hunting, your objective is to locate the prey and subdue it. In other words, there’s risk involved.
Shooting fish in a barrel or hunting rabbits is one level of risk…and one level of reward. Going after the big opportunities often entails a higher level of risk and requires a higher level of skill and experience. That’s why most investors are well-advised to start small. It’s also a really good idea to be mentored by more experienced hunters before taking on the big game.
So you can imagine how excited we were when we first met Tom Morris. He’s been hunting big time real estate opportunity for over 30 years and after billions of dollars of deals, he’s telling us that now is one of the greatest times ever to be a real estate investor. Really? Okay, we’re listening!
Although he’s very experienced in all types of real estate, Tom’s love is retail. We’re talking BIG TIME retail – as in shopping malls and retail centers with hundreds of thousands of square feet (on the small side)! Tom’s been involved in mall projects with millions of square feet and hundreds of retail tenants in a single project. Wow! THAT’S big game. Of course, if a big deal turns on you it can devour you very quickly, so you better know what you’re doing! Fortunately, Tom tells us there are many things you can do to mitigate risk.
We start quizzing Tom about the state of retail in the wake of the Great Recession. What are the problems? What are the causes? Where are the opportunities? We were SHOCKED to hear how BIG the discounts are on distressed retail assets. It’s AMAZING how, with relatively little money, you can acquire assets with HUGE UPSIDE potential. (Sorry for all the caps. We’re just EXCITED!).
BUT…(and it’s a big but), you better have a plan. And you better have connections. And you better be able to think outside the big box. If you do, then there’s BIG money to be made!
Tom shares with us some of the creative strategies he’s currently employing to acquire and re-hab distressed retail properties. Even if you don’t have plans to be a mall mogul, the principles Tom employs are applicable to other types of real estate. Besides, any time someone with 30 years and billions of dollars of experience wants to share their wisdom, we think it’s a really smart idea to listen. Our attentiveness is rewarded when Tom reveals the single most important component of his success and the #1 investment of his career.
Not everyone is able to chit chat with a big time investor. Tom doesn’t do seminars, write books or sell boot camps. He’s just out in the real world doing the real thing. That’s why you have The Real Estate Guys™! Our mission is to hunt down big brains, powerful ideas and great resources that help you succeed. Your job is to listen, learn and take action. Plus, we really appreciate it when you tell all your friends about The Real Estate Guys™. Enjoy!
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