Josef Katz - Trump University {Marketing Maestro}

OK I am not attending the Academy Awards or the Emmys nor have I been nominated for any awards (why is that by the way...) but I am attending the John Caples International Awards this Thursday evening. This is a big event in the direct marketing community and this year I was invited to attend (OK you can buy a ticket too but invitations are more fun.)

My friends at Alloy Marketing (my hosts) are the sponsors of the first annual Student Campaign of the Year. This evening should be full of excitement since none of the finalist campaigns, companies or individuals knows the winners in any category.

In addition to some great networking opportunities we will hopefully get to see a lot of great marketing creativity and interesting campaigns.

See you on the Red Capet.

Earlier this month we put out a call for A few Good Bloggers (this was a members only post) interested in a guest column on the Trump Blog. Well today the first of hopefully many columns by Tina Merritt was published on the Trump Blog. This is unique content from Tina that you won't find on any of her other blogs. If you enjoy her work stop on by and check it out.

Give Tina a big congratulations. She is now part of the Trump Blog team and we hope to help her grow her business as she helps provide interesting and educational content for our readers.

We have a few more bloggers working on their Trump posts and we hope to share those names as soon as we have their first posts live.

If you are interested in being part of the Trump Blog team take a look at our earlier post for some of the details and contact me via email.

I take two weeks off for a family vacation and Bam! I get bumped from my #2 spot in the NYC area on Active Rain. I guess I deserved it since I was so busy preparing for vacation and then catching up on my return I was off the network for almost a month. Now I am back and ready to take back my spot and climb back up the Active Rain ladder. So Morgan Evans watch out I am back and ready to go. A few more posts and some comments and you are going down to #3... This is all in good natured fun of course but the Marketing Maestro is back.

Before I get to the thank you note just a quick introduction and background for my readers.

If you don’t know Margaret Rome take a minute to get to know her through

1. her websites,
   
2. her book Real Estate the Rome Way and
3. her blog
   

I first met Margaret though a connection on Active Rain (thank you Carolyn Tann-Starr) when I was looking for help to promote our new Commercial Real Estate book. Margaret is a true giver never asking for anything in return. Having read her book I now know why she is so successful. I encourage you to reach out and get to know Margaret Rome. Oh and buy her book too…

Margaret,

Thank you for sending me a signed copy of your new book Real Estate the Rome Way. I may not be in “Real Estate Sales” but the information in your book is timeless and crosses many industries. I highly recommend this book to anyone involved in Real Estate but also to anyone who is involved in consumer marketing and sales. The stories and examples you use to highlight your points make everything seem so easy and attainable. As I was reading the book I tagged a number of pages to reread and possibly use in a future blog post (what can I say I think in terms of blogs now…) In addition to the Type E material I found the WIN information very helpful. For the last few days I hear myself saying what’s important now? I hope we get to meet in person soon so that I can grab some of your positive energy.

I know you love and work for “thank you notes” and hope this is the first blog thank you note you have received. You know us Type E’s, always thinking creatively…

From one Type E to another thanks again and I look forward to our next conversation.

All the best.

Josef

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Readers of this blog know that each month we select one of our clients to be the Trump University client of the month. We select a client who stands out because of their remarkable accomplishments. They are a rallying call for our employees, potential and current clients that if you work at your goals they can be accomplished. This month we showcase Jesse Maschmeyer. Here is his story:

Jesse Maschmeyer was born in Salinas, California in 1976. Jesse played the violin as a child, and in high school he developed a love of woodworking. But in the years that followed, those passions took his life in an unexpected direction. He went to Parma, Italy to study to become a violin maker. After three years of intense study, he returned to America to practice his craft. Today, Jesse restores antique instruments for one of the most prestigious instrument shops in Boston. At the same time, he builds violins and sells them to professional musicians.

A great life? Yes. But at the same time, Jesse had a second passion. “I was always interested in investing in real estate,” Jesse says. “And I also saw that if I became successful as a real estate investor, which would free me to pursue my passion for violin making, which has its ups and downs and which is not always as profitable as it could be.”

Yet as his interest in real estate grew, Jesse faced a problem. How could he learn what he needed to start investing? The answer to that question came when a friend invited Jesse to attend a free Trump University real estate class in Waltham, Massachusetts. Jesse didn’t know about Trump University before that, but he saw that Trump University could teach him the skills he needed to make his investing dreams come true.

“It had been my long-time goal to make a career in real estate,” Jesse says. “But I was spinning my wheels. I didn’t know quite how to get started. And Trump University really set my feet in the right direction to make it happen.”

Jesse enrolled in Trump University’s Real Estate Investor Training Program. Before long, he was working with Stephen Gilpin, one of our master instructors.

“I learned what kind of properties were the best for this particular market and this time,” Jesse explains. “And it quickly became obvious to me that bank-owned properties presented me with a nice clean deal and some potential equity at closing.”

Jesse and Stephen also discussed how much money Jesse could contribute to his first purchase. He had recently sold a violin he had made, and had other savings. In sum, he could start with an investment of $20,000. Plus, Jesse had an excellent credit history, which gave him even more power as a first-time real estate investor.

With Stephen’s help, Jesse began to search for investment properties. He quickly identified one. “It was bank-owned, I got it under contract, but then problems quickly developed. We found several defects to the title, and in the building itself. But I worked with Stephen at every step of the process and actually learned many valuable lessons.”

With that first deal off the table, Jesse soon made an offer on a two-family home in Somerville, Massachusetts. The home appraised for $292,000, but Jesse’s offer of $250,000 was accepted. It was, in Jesse’s words, “a nice, clean deal.” Because the property was bank-owned, it was delivered vacant.

Even though he could probably have held the property for a short time and flipped it for a small profit, Jesse is applying a longer, buy and hold strategy. He is occupying one of the units, renting the other one for $1,200 a month, which generates positive cash flow for him.

With Stephen’s help, Jesse has created a long-term strategy that will allow him to buy additional properties below market value and hold them long enough to obtain the maximum value from them. But for the time being, Jesse is happy right where he is. He calls his strategy “a good, solid stance” in the current market - one that makes him feel comfortable because he is generating positive cash flow and minimizing exposure and risk at the same time.

And let’s not forget the fact that Jesse has accomplished that special, two-part dream of his. He has already achieved the security he needed to devote two days a week to his other passion, making fine violins. He is living out his dreams. Trump University is proud to have helped make that happen.

Related Post:
Real Estate Success Story