Cambria, CA

I listened to a real estate investment webinar on TUES night, it had so many great tips that I sent some emails to my friends for THR's webinar... and it was such a popular topic that some of my friends were turned away, the webinar was OVER capacity!

So they added 1 more webinar date: THIS SUNDAY NIGHT

The webinar is FREE and it shows how to capitalize on today's real estate Short Sales. I listened in and learned a LOT of great techniques and tips to profit MORE on transactions. It's geared to real estate investors but Realtors® and mortgage lenders can learn some tips too. I'm already putting a couple of the steps into use right now! Just enter your contact info and the hosts (Randle & Dutch) will send you a link to log on at 6pm tonight. Hope you can make it!

REGISTER HERE:

https://nss.infusionsoft.com/go/ssay07jun/rpbrown/

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

• Sunday, June 7th
• Sunday 6pm PT / 9pm ET

Funny, I just got an unusual email from Randle Bowling today:

It just doesn't make sense but people are still registering for last night's webinar! The demand is insane, our operators have put in 3 nights that have gone until 3am. I'll tell you what a successful launch is - the late night barista at the local starbucks knows you by first name because of all the coffee runs...

I got up this morning and found another 50 people signed up for the webinar, and more have come in since! My business partner Greg double checked it, they are legit registrations...

So because it was a packed house last night, again, and we killed it, again, I talked with my good friend Jason Gilbert and he is willing to open up his private webinar this Sunday. Register now so you don't get locked out!

This is it, the no joke, bottom line, drop dead last one. I gave my operators the day off so they can play Sunday but I don't care who registers on Monday, we're closing doors on Sunday night.

So please sign on to the webinar EARLY before it fills up. Please let me know how you like Randle's webinar! They do offer a great program that you can sign up for at the end of the webinar, but you don't have to (it's optional). In either case, it's worth listening to the webinar... you may learn something like I did!

ENJOY!

Regina P. Brown
Broker, Realtor®, e-Pro
Author of eBook "Stop Foreclosure Fast: Solutions to Save your House"
Author of forthcoming book, "Virtual Office Guide for Business Professionals: Work & Profit from Home"
Join & post to my NEW ActiveRain group at http://activerain.com/groups/virtualoffice

Text copyright © 2009 R.P. Brown, All Rights Reserved

Who needs an estate planning attorney, anyway?

You do.

Me? Why?

Well, you own property don't you? And a business?

Yes.

And you have children, don't you?

Yes.

And you certainly don't want everything you've work so hard for, to end up with the courts or attorneys do you? After all, you've worked hard so your children, grandchildren, and favorite charities can have something nice to inherit, right?

That's true.

So you need an Estate Planning Attorney then. Not just any attorney. But one that does estate planning exclusively and can help you create a custom plan for you and your family.

So how do I find a great attorney to help me?

Once you have selected a prospective attorney, here's some interview questions:

1. How long have you been licensed as an attorney? Are you in good standing or have you been the subject of any disciplinary proceedings? (You can verify on your state bar licensing web site. In California, it's www.calbar.org.)
2. Do you have a web site? (Ask this before you meet the attorney & review their site.)
3. Have you written a book or professional reference papers? Have you written anything that has been accepted for publication?
4. Do you speak publicly to any community groups? Do you present education to other financial professionals?
5. What law school did you attend? (Some law schools are more highly regarded than others.)
6. Are you a member of any professional associations? (WealthCounsel is a credible association for Estate Planning attorneys.)
7. Do you have legal malpractice insurance? (This is a sign of accountability.)
8. Are you incorporated? (Often signified by the letters P.C. or A.P.C. after their firm name.)
9. What common mistakes have you seen in estate planning? (Demonstrates experience with all types of situations.)
10. What is your fee range for your services? (Great attorneys probably won't quote an exact fee, but should be willing to give you a fee range. If they won't give you any fees up front, beware!)
11. Why are you passionate about estate planning?

And if you're a business professional, two more interview questions:

1. If I do business with you, are you willing to consider doing business with me?
2. I'd like to refer people to you. Do you have anyone you can refer to me?

Okay, you say, I got it. These are the types of questions I'm going to ask. But how do I go about LOCATING a top quality attorney who is highly respected in his/her field?

Be cautious when using the following methods to find a great attorney:

• Yellow pages
• Billboard signs
• Internet directories
• Referral service (attorneys that pay to be listed)
• Fancy / expensive ads, graphics, or slogans

Some recommended attorney resources are:

• Brenda Geiger, Esq., Geiger Law Office, P.C. (California)
• Myrna Arroyo, Esq., Myrna E. Arroyo, LLC (Louisiana & Connecticut)
• Ask your CPA or financial advisor for a referral
• Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. (througout U.S. and Canada)

Don't believe that your entire estate can be ruined by using the wrong forms, wrong trust methods, or wrong attorney? Read Geiger's book, "What You Must Know to Protect Your Family and Your Estate: The Ultimate Guide to Estate Planning for California Families" and you'll find some tragic stories -- of what you DON'T want to do!

Questions? Please contact me and I'll be happy to help you!

Regina P. Brown
Broker, Realtor®, e-Pro
Author of eBook "Stop Foreclosure Fast: Solutions to Save your House"
Author of forthcoming book, "Virtual Office Guide for Business Professionals: Work & Profit from Home"
Join & post to my NEW ActiveRain group at http://activerain.com/groups/virtualoffice

Text copyright © 2009 R.P. Brown, All Rights Reserved

"What You Must Know to Protect Your Family and Your Estate: The Ultimate Guide to Estate Planning for California Families" by Brenda Geiger, Esq. (Geiger Law Office, P.C.) and Myrna Arroyo, Esq., Myrna E. Arroyo, LLC. is a handy little guide that packs some powerful punches.

Geiger and Arroyo give case examples of "The 25 Most Common Estate Planning Mistakes" that they have witnessed in their careers. "Mistake #6: Putting your Children on Title to your House" on page 11 is a very common mistake that I come across in my real estate business. This is very dangerous because it puts your assets MORE at risk, NOT less. Geiger says:

"When you put your home (or any other asset) in co-ownership with your children, they become co-owners of the property with you. This causes several problems.

"First Problem: Putting your home in joint tenancy with your children is a taxable gift under IRS regulations. This means you have to file a gift tax return for the year in which you made the transfer if the value of the interest transferred to each child is more than $12,000.

"Second Problem: If your child has any lawsuits against him or her, or is going through a divorce, or has a tax lien filed against them, you may find out that you no longer own the house with your child, but with your child's creditors. They can actually foreclose on (force the sale of) your home to get at your child's fractional share.

"Third Problem: When you go to sell the home, you can use your primary residence capital gains exclusion ($250,000 for individuals and up to $500,000 for married couples) only on your fractional share. Each of your children may have a LARGE long-term capital gains tax bill to be paid that could have been totally avoided if the house had still been titled in just your name."

Ms. Geiger is an awesome attorney who truly cares about helping her clients. She doesn't use off-the-shelf generic trusts, but takes the time to get to know each client individually and crafts a specific plan just for each family! Her services (and her book) are highly recommended. You can find out more about Geiger's Law Office at http://www.geigerlawoffice.net/ or purchase the book at http://www.geigerlawoffice.net/books.html

Regina P. Brown
Broker, Realtor®, e-Pro
Author of eBook "Stop Foreclosure Fast: Solutions to Save your House"
Author of forthcoming book, "Virtual Office Guide for Business Professionals: Work & Profit from Home"
Join my NEW group for professionals who work from their home office at http://activerain.com/groups/virtualoffice

Text copyright © 2009 R.P. Brown, All Rights Reserved

Real estate closed escrow sales for January 2009 were at 5, which is lower than the all-time record of 9 in 2007.

Thanks to First American Title in San Luis Obispo for supplying this chart. If you'd like to know more about real estate buying or selling on the California Central Coast, I'm a top expert and would be happy to answer your questions!

Join my new AR group and post your blog at http://activerain.com/groups/virtualoffice

Regina P. Brown
Broker, Realtor®, e-Pro
Author of eBook "Stop Foreclosure Fast: Solutions to Save your House"

Text copyright © 2009 R.P. Brown, All Rights Reserved

A webinar on "How to do Webinars" -- Last week I participated in this awesome webinar hosted by Frances Flynn-Thorsen, the guru of webinar hosting and promotion at Socialebb Strategies and Solutions. She gave some great tips, and also discussed the in's and out's of various hosting platforms. Here's her blog with the replay:

http://activerain.com/blogsview/933980/Create-Online-Meetings-and-an-Explosive-Spotlight-Ad-for-Trulia

We all know about GoToMeeting, which is probably the top webinar platform that I see. It has some super-cool features. The participants can listen by phone or computer. You can record the seminar for later use. And the best feature is that when participants receiving confirmation of their registration, they can click on a link in the email to ADD IT TO THEIR OUTLOOK CALENDAR -- cool, huh! I like how attendees can "raise" their hands for the host when they have a question. (They also have GoToWebinar.)

WebEx by Cisco has received a lot of publicity, isn't that the TV commercial with the little girl telling her adult staff about her cookie business? Anyway, their product appears to be very good also.

Frances recommended Trulia for online desktop sharing, AND you can change presenters during the presentation. Also you can make annotations and use whiteboard tools, give polls and surveys, and host online meetings.

Another platform she likes is DimDim.com, it's an open source program. The great feature about this software is that it shows the video of the presenter! I guess that can be good or bad, depending on if you're wearing pajamas or a suit! DimDim is also great because you don't have to download any software to your computer. It's one of the greatest ways to host virtual company meetings.

And Yugma.com free web conferencing "allows anyone, anywhere to instantly share their desktop and ideas online with others." It allows you to record your webcast in order to share and playback at any time. Another of Fran's favorites!

I'm a big fan of Skype, although not very formal and not commonly used for business. And if your video or audio goes down mid-meeting, you can always chat instead!

Okay, so here's the Agent-to-Agent Mastermind Call info you've been waiting for! GrowthLeader sent me an email today with an invitation to their ground-breaking Agent-to-Agent Mastermind call. You don't have to use Growth Leader to listen in! So here's the link for anyone serious or just curious:

http://activerain.com/blogsview/963725/Growth-Leader-Agent-to-Agent-Mastermind-Call

AccuConference is hosting their conference call. http://www.accuconference.com offers:

For conference phone calls, I like FreeConferenceCalls.com, with its great mute control features for the host. Another free conferencing service is www.TheBasementVentures.com

I'm interested in hearing about your FAVORITE webinar provider! Anyone?

Join my new AR group and post your blog at http://activerain.com/groups/virtualoffice

Regina P. Brown
Broker, Realtor®, e-Pro
Author of eBook "Stop Foreclosure Fast: Solutions to Save your House"

Text copyright © 2009 R.P. Brown, All Rights Reserved