Bree Long

I went to the 3 day "Rich Dad Education' seminar this weekend, and after reading multiple blogs on Active Rain regarding the 'pitch,' I feel compelled to offer my own thoughts on my experience:

#1. The staged and systematic marketing for the variety of 'advanced trainings' offered through the 'Rich Dad Education' seminars is astounding (Robert Kiyosaki has licensed his brand to Tigrent Learning, which used to operate as the Whitney Intelligence Program). They lure you in with a two-hour free seminar about wealth building that is basically a platform to pitch a 3-day weekend seminar geared towards teaching you advanced techniques for acquiring real estate by leveraging OPM, or 'other peoples money.' The charge to attend the 3-day seminar is $199, but you can bring a guest. My friend and I decided that $100 was a minimal investment, just to check it out. The 3 day seminar is moderated by a highly skilled and knowledgeable pitch man who has also had success as an investor. This moderator then gives you just enough information about advanced strategies to develop intrigue and then uses take away, urgency, guilt, and tangible facts to up-sell the advanced trainings that range in price from 9,900 to $100,000.

#2. Look... I work in real estate, have attended numerous seminars and am all too familiar with aggressive sales tactics, so I knew what i was getting into before I went to this seminar. i also happen to believe that, despite these seemingly unscrupulous approaches to getting people to part with their money, there is a lot of value in the right education program. There have been numerous complaints filed against the 'Rich Dad Education' program, which is understandable. I can see how someone who knows nothing about real estate and is desperate to escape the rat race could easily get caught up and commit to something they are not fully prepared to follow through on. That said, for those who are truly committed to building wealth and paying for the education needed to accelerate their success, I think that the program probably has a lot of merits. The bottom line is that real estate is one of the single best vehicles for building wealth, but it's not for the faint of heart. You must always fortify your skill sets and seek out education if you want to win the game in the long haul. You also can't expect to have success handed to you and must know that anything worth having takes hard work and application. This program is no exception.

#3. All in all, for my $100 bucks, I received a lot of motivation and some great real world examples of the power and potential of real estate. I see it for what it is, and may actually invest in some of the training courses at another time. If you decide to go to this or any other sales pitch for building wealth through real estate, remember to consider the source: these people are in the business of selling knowledge and they are experts at the pitch. For sales people, it's a great training in the power of persuasion and master sales techniques if nothing else. For everyone else, it's a decent exposure to the potential of real estate as long as you understand that it's not going to come over night, and that the result will be commiserate with the effort you put in to it. Remember: preparation + opportunity= success!

Please contact me directly at 323-461-6570 if you would like more information about the real estate market in Urban L.A., or any information contained in this blog. For a free list of homes for sale, please visit UrbanPulseProperties.com.

I doubt it. The way I see it, a temporary moratorium on foreclosures, like the one recently implemented by Bank of America, will only delay the inevitable. It's like removing a band-aid: whether you rip it off swiftly, with full force, or gently, slowly, and little by little, it still hurts.

Recent allegations that Bank of America utilized 'robo-signing' on foreclosure documents to commit fraud and forgery caused the second largest bank in the country to throw out the white flag and halt foreclosure proceedings until it can accurately assess its policy and procedure related to proper foreclosure documentation.

Additionally, President Obama refused to sign proposed legislation last week that would have made it more difficult for homeowners to challenge documents in a foreclosure.

It's not to say that there haven't been errors in the foreclosure process or that every homeowner who is upside down on their mortgage doesn't deserve to be dealt with fairly and honestly. It's just that halting foreclosures will only delay the pain, while bringing focus to the minutiae rather than the fundamentals that created the mortgage meltdown in the first place.

The bottom line still remains that the banks and government policy makers have got to end their stand-off, develop loan modification and short sale standards that are effective and executable, and develop assistance programs that keep as many additional homeowners from foreclosure as possible. Once stabilization in the housing market is achieved, consumer confidence will return, increasing consumer spending, thus restoring jobs and sending people back to work, thereby returning the economy to a healthy state.

With nearly 13 million U.S. homes carrying negative equity and billions of dollars of unmitigated damage on the banks' books, we are a long way from seeing this type of healthy growth in the economy. "Extending" the mortgage crisis and "pretending" that it's not as bad as it seems is a bold step in the wrong direction, with myopic focus on the wrong factors. The longer we tourniquet the problem, the longer we will have to deal with the consequences of our wrongful actions, dragging us further down an economic black hole. The utter magnitude of the national mortgage crisis makes it unlikely that the problem will go away soon or see a smooth resolution. I see no other way but to face the battle head on, with innovation and courage. Let's hope our policy makers come to feel the same way.

Related Articles

• Do You Support a National Moratorium on Foreclosure? (abcnews.go.com)
• Foreclosure Snags Could Spell Big Trouble For Banks, Economy (forbes.com)
• Legal Heat On Robo-Signing Stokes Foreclosure Fiasco (forbes.com)

Please contact me directly at 323-461-6570 if you would like more information about the real estate market in Urban L.A., or any information contained in this blog. For a free list of homes for sale, please visit UrbanPulseProperties.com.

Larchmont Village Family Fair

Always charming and quaint, Larchmont Village, near Hancock Park will be hosting a "Family Fair," complete with talent and costume contests, as well as rides, games, and food suitable for the kiddies. The Larchmont Family Fair takes place on Sunday, October 24th from noon to 5 p.m. and is free, with all proceeds going to various local non-profits. I'm hoping for a pumpkin carving station and grilled corn with all the fixin's. See you there!

Please contact me directly at 323-461-6570 if you would like more information about the real estate market in Urban L.A., or any information contained in this blog. For a free list of homes for sale, please visit UrbanPulseProperties.com.

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Ask, and you shall receive. Maybe the answers you're seeking aren't exactly what you expected, but thoughtful response to questions that may seem obvious help us to develop a fresh perspective, refine the operating principles of our lives and businesses, and lead us in new directions to meet our goals. Certainly, we have all been challenged with the task of asking ourselves the tough questions in the last few years of hardship. Those tough questions are different for everyone, but if you are really interested in growth and progress, it's time to have a 'coming to Jesus' with yourself about what's no longer working, where you want to go, and how you plan to get there.

The real estate industry is no exception and it, like the rest of us, is starting to ask the tough questions. I recently happened upon this survey from a local real estate market research firm in Orange County, CA. in response to changing times, this company is conducting market research on home preferences and offering a chance to win a $500 Apple Gift Card for anyone who completes the survey. The study aims to answer the following about what people want in a home today:

• Has the willingness to commute changed?
• What does Gen Y say about renting versus owning?
• Where will the Boomers retire? When? And to what lifestyle?
• What are the differences in the ideal home design by generation?
• What do consumers want in community, and how much will they pay for it?
• Who wants to downsize, and will the McMansion make a comeback?
• Can urban living prosper outside of the core of downtown areas?
• Do consumers really want green technology in their homes, or is green in their pockets more important? Do they expect both?
• How should the cultural trend toward customization impact home builder business strategy? When should builders include features or option them?

I am so inspired by the list of great questions from this survey, that I am going to conduct my own survey in my market area to find out what people want in a home today in Los Angeles. The more we know, the better the service we can provide to one another and ourselves.

Please contact me directly at 323-461-6570 if you would like more information about the real estate market in Urban L.A., or any information contained in this blog. For a free list of homes for sale, please visit UrbanPulseProperties.com.

Beverly Hills homes are selling like hotcakes (relatively speaking)! Sales of Beverly Hills homes increased, by one-hundred and eighty-six percent (186%), in August, 2010, and in comparison to the same month last year. Beverly Hills home sales have been on the rise since hitting a low point for the year in the first quarter. Despite a steady increase in sales over the last several months, only twenty (20) Beverly Hills homes were sold in August of 2010, while the Combined L.A./Westside MLS reflects the sale of only seven (7) Beverly Hills homes for August 2009.

Beverly Hills Homes Sold for August 2010:

Supply continues to drastically outpace demand, although there was a 19% decrease in Beverly Hills homes for sale in August 2010, as compared with the same month last year. There were one-hundred and fifty-eight (158) Beverly Hills homes listed for sale in August of 2010.

Sales prices for Beverly Hills homes barely increased by one percent (1%) in August of 2010 and compared to the same period last year. Lack of movement in price indicates the top of the threshold of tolerance for pricing of homes in this area, though a one percent increase for this price point translates to a substantial dollar amount. The median ‘sold’ price for Beverly Hills homes in August, 2010 was two-million nine-hundred and fifty-thousand dollars ($2,950,000) as compared to an average sold price of two-million nine-hundred and twenty-thousand dollars ($2,920,000) just a year ago.

Median Sold Price of Downtown L.A. Condos for July 2010:

The average 'days on market' for Beverly Hills homes in August 2010 has increased by 20%, or about 11 additional days on the market from this time last year. This may be an indicator that the market in this area has very little tolerance for even nominal price increases. Even though sales of homes in Beverly Hills have increased substantially since this time last year, buyers are really taking their time before deciding to move forward with home purchases in Beverly Hills.

Perhaps by wishful thinking on the part of home sellers, listing prices of Beverly Hills homes have increased by twenty-two percent (22%) from July 2009 to July 2010. However, the actual sales prices of Beverly Hills has risen by only one percent (1%), which indicates that those in the market for a home are 'just not buying it,' at least in Beverly Hills. With sales showing a healthy increase since last year, it's a safe bet to assume that sellers are giving in, opting to sell their homes for true market value instead of their pie-in-the-sky listing prices.

Please contact me if you would like more information about the real estate market in Urban L.A., or the Beverly Hills home market.

For a free list of homes for sale, please visit UrbanPulseProperties.com.