With the recent state of mortgages across the United States, we have seen the almost complete end to:

1. Sub-prime loans
2. Hard Money Lenders in Many Locations
3. Cash Out Refinances for Investors
4. Purchase Loans for Investors

And all in all, getting a loan for a poor credit home buyer or an investor with any credit from bad to over 800 scores is just getting harder and harder as the year goes by. Don here at our office has spent almost most of the week on the phone calling and talking to all different kinds of lenders, just to find a way to get you guys funded.

We figure that most of you are looking for several different types of loans

1. Loans to purchase turn key rental properties with 10% or less down
2. Loans to fund the purchase and rehab of properties
3. Refinance Loans to refinance out of cash or a rehab loan with in 3 months or less from your purchase.
4. Refinance Loans to perform a cash out refinance and get a little money.

Then in the recent news that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are considering or have decided to limit the number of loans a person can have to 4, well that is further putting a cramp in your purchases and our sales (our purchases too!)

So while we can't do much about rules and regulations of the lenders other than search for that perfect loan from a bank lending their own money, that will be holding the loan and not selling it (an therefore not caring about Fannie or Freddie Rules), and that have the desire to work with the investor, well I can tell you all a little bit about alternative funding sources:

1. Private Lenders

2. Self Directed IRA's

3. Unsecured Lines of Credit

4. Partnering

Today I wanted to talk to you about Private Lenders. First let me say that you should do a little research into SEC Rules and Rules in Your State and run any forms or documents you may decide to use by an attorney in your state to make sure they comply with all the rules and regulations there.

So first of all you need to find someone who might want to be a private lender. Many people teach advertising in the newspaper something about earn a return on your investment with a loan secured by real estate. And that probably works great, but you may also start getting phone calls from the SEC guys and you don't want to go there.

A couple of gurus out there advocate doing a direct mail to a purchased list of people that have purchased CDs at local banks in a certain price range. These are lists of people that you can purchase from list servers. Send out a mail piece inviting them to a lunch where you will explain the latest and greatest investment - YOU. But with all the bad press lately about the professional fund managers doing lunches and bilking the elderly into buying into annuities and other things that were not sound investments, well lunches should be on the out list as well.

So what can you do? Well the best thing I have found is to educate yourself on exactly what it is you do with real estate investing and how you make money and figure out how to explain that to other people. Then spend a little time learning exactly how a person can lend you money for a deal and act as a bank so that you could also explain that to other people.

Then your next step is to let everyone you know what it is that you do in investing, how you make money, and be sure to be able to substantiate that you make money. You might also let slip how successful this or that deal was and how much you might be paying to borrow money from a bank.

When people know what it is that you do, that you do it successfully, that you pay your bills, they will start to ask you questions. They want to learn more and you want to build up your expertise and build their trust. And then when they reach that perfect level of trust, many of the best private lenders will come to you.

Our first private lender was one of our vendors we worked with in our real estate business. And after he saw us successfully complete about 4 or 5 deals or so he came to us. His offer was that if we came across just one extra deal that needed financing and our normal way of financing was used up, could we partner with him. He would purchase the property up to a certain price on his line of credit, we would do the repairs out of our funds, we would sell the deal and make the profit and he wanted $5,000 of the profit. Not a bad deal to new investors like us.

Our next private lender also came to us. He had noted that we had bought and sold several homes, that we had both quit our jobs and were doing this full time, that we still paid our mortgage and had not been kicked out of our home and were driving nice cars. When ever we saw him he wanted to go see our latest junker house we had just bought and find out how much we had made on the last deal. Then one day the question was, "How much are you paying in interest and do you think I could fund a few deals for you?" And thus our 2^nd private lender was found.

Then a year or so ago, I offered to teach a class to our local REIA club and explain how my private lending system works - just so other people who wanted to find private lenders could learn more. Out of that class, two people decided they wanted to be lenders to us. One actually became a lender and the other, well we have not been able to get a deal together with him yet.

From that class, the person who became a private lender, he has referred another lender to us and I have made another presentation to the entire REIA group and found yet another private investor.

So you can kind of see where they come from: people you already know who trust you and people you can inspire by giving them free information.

I am fairly confident that you know what it is that you do in real estate to explain to all of these people, so lets focus on how a private loan works.

First, find your private lender how ever you find them. I would suggest a face to face meeting or a teleconference with them to discuss how your system works, what it is that you do, the risks involved and what you do to minimize them, and ask them to commit on paper how much they would be willing to lend you to start with.

Then you will need to find a property that you can purchase with the funds from your lender. I usually wholesale so I am only borrowing funds for the purchase and not the rehab, but you could also borrow rehab funds as well.

Once you find the property, perform your due diligence to be sure that the property and the cost of any rehab will be under 70% of the After Repaired Value of the home. Be prepared to be conservative on that 70% rather than optimistic so you don't over tax your lender and so if something were to happen to screw up the deal, you have the remaining 30 % to save your butt so to speak.

You will go to closing just like with any other property financed by the bank and you will treat your private lender just like any other institutional lender:

1. You will ask for both an owners title policy and a lenders title policy. Here in Kansas City the seller pays for the Owner's Title Policy and the buyer pays for the Lender's Title Policy. That means that you will incur an extra charge of about $190 for that extra title policy over paying cash, but no extra fees over using a bank lender.
2. You will also want to make sure your lender is named as the 2^nd insured on your hazard insurance policy, just like you would if Bank of America was your lender instead of your neighbor.
3. You will also want to fill out 3 legal documents. You can ask your title company or escrow agent of these documents or you can go to goolge and probably find exactly what you need:
   1. A Promissory Note
   2. A Deed of Trust or a Mortgage (depending on your state)
   3. An assignment of Rents in the case of default your lender would then be able to take over the property and collect the rents to satisfy your debt.
4. I would also suggest a disclosure form that outlines exactly what it is you will be doing with the property, how you plan to exit out of the property, the time line you are projecting and a disclaimer that notes that there are no sure bets in real estate and your entire plan could change while owning the property.

This disclosure is very important. Your lender needs to understand that the market could change and what you planned to be a short term buy, and wholesale flip is just not selling and you are going to have to do a little fix up and sell as a lease to own over a 2 year period rather than a 3 to 6 month period. Have contingencies and the ability to extend the loan if you plans must change or have a back up lender that can come in and take the place of the first one.

How the transaction takes place is the lender will wire all funds in to your title company or escrow agents office. You will go in and sign all the above legal documents and the title company will pay off your seller. You should never touch the funds except for in the case of a few dollar overage in the loan amount over the amount you need to purchase. For example when my lender sends in funds from their IRA we need a number to ask for and sometimes we do not have an exact figure yet. So we estimate and round up to the nearest $500 and sometimes we get back a few $100 at closing. We use this to pay for insurance and mowing and other upkeep during the time we own it.

If you are borrowing funds for purchase and rehab, you would want to have a system set up to make sure that you only get funds as you need them for the rehab. Possibly have a time line set up for your rehab and when contractors would need paid and only request the funds to pay the contractors as needed. NEVER take the full rehab amount at closing because you may get over confident and spend the rehab money betting on the money coming in from another sale and you don't sell. Then you end up with all your rehab money spent an nothing to rehab the house with, it sets, you can't sell or rent, and your lender does not get their money.

So how should you pay your lender. There are several choices and they would depend on your investing strategy and your lenders wishes.

1) Interest Only due on sale. On our short term wholesales, we usually let the interest accumulate and pay it all at the sale of the property.

2) Interest only paid monthly, quarterly, or annually. This again would depend on how long you would hold the property and your other cash flow. If it is a long term loan and you are collecting rent monthly I would suggest to pay your interest monthly as well, just to make sure you lender gets paid.

3) Amortize and pay monthly The best way to pay on a long term hold would be to amortize it and pay a little principle and a little interest each month so your tenant's payments are paying down your loan. You don't want to be in a situation where your long term buyer pays you payments over 10 years and you decide to get better cash flow by paying interest only. Then when your buyer reaches the payoff part of their loan and you then have to come up with the full loan amount to pay off your lender, it would be much better to amortize and have your loan run out before or at least at the same time as your long term buyer.

4) Play with the numbers and figure out the best scenario for your situation and that will work for your lender.

How much should you pay your private lender? That will depend on a lot of factors. A lot of the gurus state that the going rate is 15% or so, but that is for a hard money, institutional lender and some of your private lenders might not like the 15 % so here are some ideas.

1) for the older guy that has all of his funds in bank certificates of deposit at 3 to 5 % you might offer 6% to 8%

2) for the person who is doing ok in the stock market a rate of 10% to 12 % might be more in line

3) for the savy investor lender, they may want to charge fancy things like points and interest like a rehab lender, they may not want to, they may go for a 2% interest and then a percent of the profit in the end.

So what you pay will all depend on what your lender wants and if you can't make those numbers work, don't borrow their money. They may come around to your way of thinking in the end.

Traditionally we like to work our interest rates in the following manner:

1) Short Term Flips - those houses we want to buy and sell in 6 months. We like to have a 1 year note at 8% to 10% depending on the loan amount and the risk of the deal. We could pay our lender off in 3 days and it has happened this way and other times it could take longer, we are just closing on one that took longer almost 9 months.

2) Longer Term Tenant Buyer Sales - these are houses we buy and sell rent to own to a buyer over a 5 to 10 year period. These are homes that we will need the loan in place for 5 to 10 years, we have a tenant buyer already in place to buy from us and has a lower risk. We typically pay between 6% to 8% on these again depending on the loan amount and the risk of the deal.

3) Full 30 year notes. These are houses that we could go to the bank and get a loan at 6% to 7% but because of the new rules of 4 loan rule may not be able to get a bank loan, or if we do we would need to package 4 loans up into a blanket loan that then becomes commercial and would be around 4% to 5%. On a full 30 year mortgage with a private lender, we would have to discuss rates, we have not done one of these yet.

I hope this long article - the computer says I am up to 5 pages - will help you in finding your funding through private lenders. Some other resources you may want to look at:

1. Information on our web site: http://3689.goinetusa.com/custom/index.cfm?id=148134

2. Get Alan Cowgill's FREE CD and register for his free downloads: http://3689.goinetusa.com/custom/index.cfm?id=142809

3. Prosper Lenders: http://www.prosperlenders.com/

4. The Path to Private Lending: http://www.mareinet.com/clubportal/clubdocdisplay.cfm?clubID=755&docID=7838&priv=0

5. Finding Funding for Your Deals: http://www.mareinet.com/clubportal/clubdocdisplay.cfm?clubID=755&docID=7839&priv=0

Kim Tucker

Tucker One Properties, Inc.

www.TuckerOneProperties.com

816-523-4400

Using a private investor is very beneficial to the real estate investor because this loan does not usually report back to the credit so it does not affect loan limits with Fannie and Freddie Mac guidelines. There is usually quite a bit of savings because there are usually no closing fees like you would find with a traditional mortgage. It will still have more fees than a cash transaction, but less than a traditional mortgage.

With the loan set up properly and the real estate investor following some very specific rules, the transaction can also be very beneficial to the lender. The main one being that their money is invested in a fairly safe form of investment and they will be able to get a better rate of return than what would usually be found with a certificate of deposit at the bank.

So what are some rules?

1. Always have 30 to 35% equity in the deal; this means that the real estate investor is never going to have more than 65% to 70% of the fully repaired value in the property. If they are borrowing the purchase money and also money for any needed repairs, the total borrowed plus any of their own money into the deal should be under 70% of the total value.

A qualified individual, not necessarily an appraisal at $350 to $400 a pop, should determine the after repaired value. You could also have an experienced realtor do some research in the mls and find their own comparables to determine the after repaired value, even the investor could make this determination, but as a lender you need to be sure you trust who ever is coming up with the end repaired value.

2. The investor should never touch the money. At the purchase the money should be wired directly into the title company or closing attorney's account to pay for the purchase. Any repair money should be paid out to the investor over the life of the repair job based on the amount of repairs made to pay the contractors doing the repairs. If you as the lender are unsure of repairs you could hire someone to check on the repairs, just like a rehab lender and charge the borrower a fee to pay your hired help to do these checks. Or again if the borrower is very experienced and someone the lender trusts they may pay out based on the borrowers rehab schedule or if you don't trust the borrower, the lent money to cover repairs could be made out directly to the contractors.

Again when the property is sold and the loan is paid off, the title company should pay off the lender first before paying the profit to the investor.

3. Secure the money with forms: Promissory Note, Deed of Trust or Mortgage (depending on your state), Assignment of Rents so the lender can take over the property and collect the rents should the borrower default, and a Disclosure form making sure everyone knows what was agreed upon and the potential risks in the deal.

4. Insure the Property both with a title policy for the buyer and the lender and proper insurance for the property with the lender named as second insured.

If you would like to learn more about private lending I would suggest attending the June 10th meeting of Mid-America Association of Real Estate Investors when Jerry Clevenger will be sharing his secrets on dos and don'ts in private lending. If you missed the meeting, members of MAREI can listen to the meeting in the Archives.

Members of MAREI can attend our General Meetings for FREE and guests pay $25 at the door or can pre-register online for $15.

Submitted by Kim Tucker

Contact at kcmoHomes@yahoo.com

I just wanted to share with you the lastest issue of MAREI's Investment News Posted Online at: http://www.mareinet.com/clubportal/ClubStatic.cfm?clubID=755&pubmenuoptID=16452

If the link does not work - its at http://www.mareinet.com/ and click on newsletter archives. I

also wanted to be sure you had heard about MAREI's General Meeting on Tuesday May 13th. Our guest speaker is Don DeRosa and he will be discussing how to buy and sell your investment properties quickly in today's market. He is an excellent speaker and not to be missed. This meeting is FREE for members of MAREI, and $25 for guests at the door, but if you visit the MAREI web site and pre-register through the calendar, the cost is only $15.

Hope to see you there.

Kim Tucker

kimt@everestkc.net

816-523-4400 x 222

Making a Big Impact with Small Touches

By Don DeRosa

Customers today want the very most and the very best for the very least amount of money, and on the best terms. Only the individuals and companies that provide absolutely excellent products and services at absolutely excellent prices will survive.

Brian Tracy

Some of the most common mistakes I see are the ones investors make after they buy a house. Most of us know not to do anything too radical to our homes, but there are still lots of investors making serious mistakes that translate into much higher holding costs. This month, I'll give you some techniques for making sure your house sells fast and at a profit.

Let's start with two overriding principles:

Buyers couldn't care less how much money you put into your house.They may love those terrazzo floors, but they're still only going to pay market price. So market price is what you had better be prepared to accept!

Your house should be just a little nicer than any other house in the neighborhood, but it shouldn't have the highest price. It may sound counterintuitive, but it works. If your house is nicer than the one down the street and it costs less, guess which one will sell first?

"But wait a minute," you're saying. "How am I supposed to get the nicest house on the block without putting in a lot of money? I'm not prepared to give the house away!" Of course you're not. But you can make your house "pop" - that's what you're after - for a lot less money than you'd think. Here are six tips that will get you there.

Be prepared to do certain repairs in every single house you buy. Don't be an "under-fixer." In other words, don't assume that your buyers have the same great imagination you have when they look at homes. The paint job may be pretty good. It may be very good. But if it's not perfect - no furniture marks on the walls, no sticky fingers on the light switches, no nail holes - then you need to paint all over again. The same goes for carpet. While you're at it, replace all the hardware - door knobs, cabinet knobs, hinges, and window latches. Light fixtures and fans, too. And for heaven's sake, replace the toilet seats! Your buyers will notice, although they may not be quite aware of what it is they're noticing. What you're looking for here is new.

Eliminate the temptation to "over-fix" by using the same basic upgrade methods and materials most of the time. Don't be an "over-fixer." You don't need to create a palace. You just need to make the house nice. If the buyer wants to glaze the walls, fine. That doesn't mean you need to, even if you think the living room screams for it. Make some basic choices that you'll use for almost all your houses: neutral colors for the walls, decent-looking and inexpensive light fixtures, and nice, durable builder-grade carpet. Obviously, you'll use different materials for more expensive homes, but you should still have a pre-selected set of upgrades that you use for just about every house in that price range.

Be willing to do the unusual if it will help you beat the competition. Notice that I said you should choose the same materials for almost all your houses. There are going to be exceptions, so don't be a "mono-fixer." The mono-fixer does the same darned thing to every house he buys without giving it a moment's thought. Same fixtures, same colors, same floors, same hardware, same everything. Now, 80% of the time, that's just the right approach. But there are exceptions.

Why would a house need different treatment? It could be the type of home, or its age, or the neighborhood demographics. Let's take an example: a home in a historic neighborhood.

Now, putting aside my thoughts on whether it's wise to invest in older homes (it can be, but it can also be a disaster), if you're going to buy one, be prepared to do things differently than you would for a 10-year-old house. People looking at historic homes don't want new. They want old, but in really good shape, or they want new that looks old. Ripping out the claw-footed bathtub and huge antique pedestal sink to put in a basic vanity with a one-piece fake marble top would be a serious mistake. And unfortunately, it's a mistake that's made all the time! The same goes for replacing the porcelain doorknobs with new brass sets.

And don't assume that only 100-year-old houses need special treatment. Maybe you've got a 1953 home with a hideous black and pink tile bathroom. Ripping out that tile, or reglazing it all in white, could very well be a mistake if it turns out buyers in that neighborhood like funky authenticity (and these days, many do).

Even neighborhoods with newer houses can have their own unique flavor. There are some neighborhoods where bright colors, or dark, rich colors, are the preference. In a neighborhood like that, using good old stand-by beige could cost you money.

So how do you know when a house needs different treatment from your usual upgrade package? Well, that brings me to my next tip:

Make it your business to see every house for sale in the neighborhood. Get a good, close look at your competition! Make this a priority, because it's the only way you'll know just what sort of upgrades you need to do. What are the other houses like? Do they have laminate countertops? Crown molding? Tile floors? Hardwoods? Fans in every room? How are they painted? One neutral color per room? Darker, more luxurious colors? Do bathrooms tend to be trendy?

Now go back and look at your house. What can you do to make it just a touch above the competition, while keeping the list price low?

If you've gotten a good look at the houses, you'll know just how to do it. If everyone has laminate counter tops, install something that‘s just one step above. If some people have wood floors, don't put in vinyl! There's no substitute for this important research. It's the only way you'll know how to rise just one step above your competition so you can still afford to keep your price just a bit low.

Cut costs without compromising quality. Look for ways to cut costs that still allow you to make the house "pop." Want to replace that skinny ceiling molding with nice, wide crown molding? Instead of replacing it, add a small strip of molding a few inches below the ceiling, and then use semigloss paint to create the illusion of crown molding. Are the kitchen cabinets dreary? Don't put in new custom cabinets. Instead, hire a good painter to paint them, inside and out, with an oil-based paint (there's a trick to this, so get someone who knows what they're doing). If you absolutely must get new cabinets, go for prefab instead of custom. Remember, the buyer may love those custom cabinets, but that doesn't mean he's willing to pay you more for the house.

Upgrade a few choice items that will provide buyers with small touches of luxury. Not everything you put in has to be the cheapest possible. If you invest in a few luxury items, you can give the place a whole new feeling. The best places to splurge are the bathrooms, kitchen, and laundry room. For example, most investors buy the same really cheap bathroom faucets that you find in apartments and hotels (yes, you know the ones I mean!). Skip those! Instead of spending $25 on each bathroom, spend $100 and get low-end designer faucets. Put in a really great showerhead. Look for deals on ceramic tile flooring instead of using vinyl. In the kitchen, install a more expensive faucet with a nice sprayer or even a hot water dispenser. Think about a tile backsplash. If there's a sink in the laundry room, put in a new faucet (no need for anything fancy here) and perhaps some wire shelving. Yes, you'll add a few hundred dollars more to your cost, but that will translate soon into thousands extra in your pocket.

If you've made smart upgrade decisions, you won't care whether a buyer sees the other houses in the neighborhood first, last, or somewhere in the middle. Yours is the one they'll remember, and yours is the one they'll buy.

Don DeRosa was recognized as one of the nation's top 21 real estate investors in the New York Times bestseller The Millionaire Real Estate Investor. Don, who is a full-time investor, trainer, and mentor,

Synopsis: To get the most out of a rehab project, make your house the nicest in the neighborhood, but not the most expensive. Remember, buyers don't care how much money you've spent to fix it up. Be prepared to do some repairs in every house, like new paint and carpet. Choose some basic upgrades that work for almost all your houses, but be prepared to change your usual upgrades to fit buyer preferences. Look at every single house for sale in the neighborhood so you'll know your competition. Finally, provide some cost-effective luxury touches to help your house really stand out.

Don DeRosa is a real estate investor, author, teacher, coach and national speaker. He has trained thousands of new and experienced investors to build wealth in real estate using the same techniques that helped him build his fortune, particularly buying Subject to, Short Selling and Using Private Money.

Don was honored to be singled out among the top 21 real estate investors in the U.S. and Canada featured in the New York Times best-selling book The Millionaire Real Estate Investor.

He has bought and sold well over 200 properties in the last few years. This has given him the expertise and experience to train students on everything from finding subject-to purchase opportunities, to finding and negotiating with sellers, analyzing deals, creating equity through short selling, finding private money to fund deals, to quickly selling properties and collecting profits!

Don will be our guest speaker at MAREI on Tuesday May 13, 2008 at the Overland Park Marriott, I435 & Metcalf, Overland Park, KS from 6 pm to 9 pm. FREE for members of MAREI, $25 for guests at the door. Details and discounts at http://www.mareinet.com/

Then you want to be at the next General Meeting of Mid-America Association of Real Estate Investors on Tuesday March 11th from 6 to 9 pm at the Overland Park Marriot at 435 and Metcalf.

We will have networking for all of our members and guests from 6 to 7:15 pm and then our guest speaker, Corey Donaldson will take the stage to teach us how he invests in self storage units. This will be a very informational evening!

Event is FREE for members of MAREI and $25 at the door, preregister in advance on our web site at www.MAREInet.com, click on calendar. Preregister for $15, or join for $99.

Members of MAREI will receive instantly upon joining online access to our member's only area of our web site with over 20 FREE Ebooks on investing in real estate, 20 hours of teleconferences we have held with national trainers, All recorded general meetings since August of 2007, and much more - all for just $99 for one person and $149 for two people.

More info at www.MAREInet.com or call 816-523-4400!

As I spent several hours on my intitial interviews to find a CPA, I wanted to help my fellow real estate people looking for a new CPA, by providing my notes. If you have a great cpa you would recommend, please post your recommendations here as a reply to this post.

Several weeks or even months ago, on a local networking message board, everyone was asking for recommendations for a good CPA. I took down all the recommended names and numbers and did a little digging. From conversations with them here is what I have found out, other than those who did not call back or just did not do much of anything we might need, they all seemed like services you should at least sit down with for an hour to check out.

Rick Hughey -

• referred by Rick Simmons
• 816-554-9422
• Located in Lee's Summit
• Will Manage your payroll systems
• Is Familiar with Kansas City Missouri's paperwork
• Has many clients with real estate
• Does not use quick books
• So will not be able to do your year end adjusting entries in quick books
• Does have a book keeping service
• Spoke with directly

Scott McRuer

• referred by Troy Meyer
• 816-741-3249
• Located in Parkvill
• Offers Payroll Services
• Familiar with KCMO papweork
• Has Real Estate Cliens
• Uses Quick Books
• Has Book Keeping Services
• Really Connected Well on the phone, seemed very proactive
• Answered his own phone

Tom Prater

• Referred by Nicole Daney
• 816-753-3460
• Located on the Plaza
• offers payroll serfvices
• Familiar with the KCMO paperwork mess
• Has Real Estate Clients
• Does not use Quick Books
• Has quick books specialists to make your adjusting year end entires
• Has a book keeping service
• Also connected well on the phone, recommended meeting with a client several times through out the year to make sure they are on track, and look at ways to help them save on taxes - seemed very proactive

Jeff Katz

• Referred by David Nachman
• 913-451-4510 x 105
• Located in Leawood
• Does not offer payroll services & recommended PayChecks a payroll service
• Did not seem to be very familiar with KCMO paperwork
• Had Real Estate Clients
• Used Quick Books
• Could complete year end adjusting entries
• Had bookkeeping serivces
• Did not connect well on the phone, and wanted to argue with me that I had any clue how to do my own bookkeeping or that I knew how to use quick books.
• Marked him off my list, but it could have been me - I was in a bad mood

Carl Heinz

• Recommended by Nicole Daney
• 913-491-1040
• Located at College & Roe in Leawoos
• Offers Payroll services
• Familiare with KCMO paperwork
• Has real estate cliens
• Use Quick books
• Can complete your adjusing entires
• And I forgot to ask about book keeping services
• I have not yet talked with Carl, but do have an appointment with him. Had to leave a message and they called back several days later - but it was a holiday week. Spoke with his daughter. Carl teaches other CPA's about the latest and greatest in the CPA world.
• His daughter Hillary is in the business with them, small office with Carl, his daughter, an office manager and 3 other accountants - not to big or too small.
• Thing I liked the best so far - at the end of the year they give you a book with all your papwerwork from the entire year enclosed so you have good records.

Craig Chance

• Recommended by David Nachman
• 913-491-7200
• Located in Overland Park
• Offers Payroll
• Familiar with KCMO paperwork
• Forgot to ask about the real estate clients
• Uses Quick Books
• Could do adjusting entries
• Has Book keeping services
• connected well on the phone

Ron Minda

• Recommended by David Nachman
• 913-649-9222
• Located in Prairie Village
• Left a message, but no return call - maybe I didn't press the right button, but he was my list call of 7 and I really needed to narrow my list

From all my interviews on the phone

I would go and sit down with Rick Hughey, but I don't want to drive to Lee's Summit.

I would definitely sit down with Scott McRuer, but again - I don't want to drive to Parkville.

I really liked Tom Prater, but Don used to use him a long time ago and they did not connect well, but he seemed very well worth an interview.

Jeff Katz, turned me off with arguing with me, so I guess he really didn't want any new clients and they didn't offer a lot of things that we needed.

Carl Heinz will be my first interview.

Craig Chance will probably be my second interview, if Carl does not work out.

And I am still waiting for a return call from Ron Minda.

I hope this will help you narrow down your search for an area CPA in Kansas City.

After reading our local paper the Kansas City Star this morning, you have to wonder What Exactly is going on with our fair city.

There is a great redevelopment plan for the Bannister Mall Area (I435 and Bannister /95th Street) on the east side of KCMO and it would bring in a lot of redevelopment, and people spending money increasing sales tax revenues. It would make the area more desirable - right now we have vacant buildings like a ghost town. And would probably spur private development. Our Mayor does not want to support it because it will cost the city too much money - never mind the income it would probably generate. But he has decided he will back the plan, at least long enought to see if they can get some state funding, but he does not like the idea.

Then our wonderful Mayor's wife has an EEOC complaint against her for calling a staff member "Mammy" and she has no idea that this is a racial slur, in fact she calls everyone this as a term of endearment. Why is she volunteering the the Mayors office if she does not know this simple fact.

Then everyone is up in arms, because out of the blue our Mayor again has decided to not continue negotiations for the renewal of the city managers contract. No reasons give, just changed his mind. So now I guess we go look for a new city manager.

To top this off the city's school district has issues with acredidation and Anthony Amato who was hired to turn the district around is being investigated for calling a few women on the school board a derogatory names.

Name calling, no facts, flip flops. And we wonder why Kansas City is in such a mess.

Maybe we should try to get Wyandotte County and Kansas City Kansas to come over and give them a few pointers. They finally figured out how to run their city by unifying the whole thing. Maybe this might work in KCMO.

I am serving or at least contributing to a task force set out to figure out ways to alleviate the huge vacant property problem in Kansas City Missouri and see many factors that contribute to the problem: bad schools, poor infrastructure, no amenitites for people who live there, run down housing, no jobs, the list is huge, but until we can get the city leaders all working together in the right direction, I don't think we will be able to get very far in solving any of the problems.

Anyone with any thoughts on this from the KCMO area?