By Bill J. Gatten, Author of ‘No Down!
No New Loan!’ And ‘Making it BIG in
Creative Real Estate and Keeping It…This
Time,’ and semi-nude Chip and Dale Dancer
(…yep the chipmunks)
The following is an open letter that I wrote to my cousin John, in Orlando Florida after his having informed me in an E-mail that there were over 6,000 foreclosures within a few miles of him, and suggesting that maybe I should move to Orlando (which I’d love to do, but there are 13,000 foreclosures where I live, and as of late, I’ve developed a real affinity for gang wars, graffiti and drive-by shootings).
Dear John,
Regarding those foreclosure opportunities, with your good looks and my brains, we could buy them up. We could partner on dozens and dozens of them.
Here’s the deal: I contact the sellers, run the ads screen the calls and then advertise for and screen the buyer calls with our toll-free Adtrakker lines and do all the documentation and collections. You need merely get the Foreclosure lists (once a week), pick out the acceptable areas, and head-up any refurbishment or repairs that might be needed There is no, or very little, cash out of pocket. Our resident beneficiaries pay for all of that.
Some of them we resell for cash, and some (most) we hold for old age (which is creeping up on me, John: I don’t even buy green bananas anymore, and I’m going through mucilage and Tucks like they were Diet Pepsi and Crepes).
OK, Here's how the ‘holding’ part works:
1. We create a Limited Liability Company to be funded on our first deal at the close of Escrow (the "Turko-Amazon Mining Co, a Nevada LLC" with you and me (or you’ns and us’ns) as co-members...you are the ‘managing’ member)
2. You obtain foreclosure data from the courthouse, or better yet, from a local FC publication (a few hundred buck a year)
4. I commence a five-piece mailing program to all distressed (foreclosed upon) homeowners, telling them that we buy houses for Full Price, All Cash or Terms, any condition (60%-65% of FMV is our full price offer which we get via a ‘hard money’ no qual loan: anything else would necessitate ‘terms,’ wherein the seller-carries and gets paid at the end of the trust).
5. I identify those distressed homeowners who are willing to deal with us (i.e., they are the only ones who answer my mailings. And when they call they get a recorded messages explaining exactly what we can do for them…if they’re interested, they then call my private toll-free 800 line)
6. I offer to take over their loan, bring the arrearages current (i.e., say, $5-6,000 or ?), get them out from under the property, and reestablish their credit with their lender
7. If they like what I have to say, we take a 30-45 Day Non-Exclusive Purchase Option from the homeowner (no option fee, no obligation…they can sell to anyone during the option period: but they have to give us a 10 days notice to exercise our option if they do get another offer)
8. We order and obtain a reinstatement quote from the lender
9. During the option term, I advertise for our resident beneficiary (buyer) via the newspaper and a hangman sign that you place on the property...the ad and the sign say: "No bank qual. No down payment. 3 pmts and clos. costs moves you in (e.g., which sum comes to, say, $10-11,000)."
10. Upon locating our buyer, we create a land trust to hold the property’s title (the homeowner being the ‘only’ beneficiary, at that point)
11. We open Escrow
12. We set our “Mutually Agreed Value” at 20% 30% or (?) ‘above’ what we owe on the mortgages(s) and/or any money owed to, and carried by, the former homeowner, if any.
13. The distressed owner leaves the property
14. We place the buyer's money into Escrow
15. We remit all sums necessary to bring the mortgage loan current (i.e., the $5-6,000)
15. We take an assignment of 90% of the beneficiary interest in the trust, with the other 10% remaining with the homeowner: which percentage will be forfeited to the LLC at the trust's termination (leaving the percentage with the borrower of record avoids open due-on-sale violation re. the existing financing, and avoids and transfer or conveyance tax or reassessment by the county…as the homeowner has only placed his property into an inter-vivos trust and has not relinquished more than 50% of the Power of Direction)
16. We now take a ‘Limited Power of Attorney’ from the former homeowner so that we can “vote” in his stead, directing the trustee on his/her behalf throughout the agreement (as far as he’s concerned, he sold the house and needn’t be involved in any day-to-day functions relative to it).
17. We next assign to our ‘resident beneficiary (our buyer)’ a 50% beneficiary interest in the trust (i.e., they then receive 100% of the benefits of homeownership, including income tax write-off, and 50% of the principal reduction and 50% of any future appreciation over the term): they get 100 of the bundle of rights in fee-simple real estate ownership, except for our half of the profit on sale.
18. We set the resident beneficiary’s monthly payments at, say, $100-$200.00 above what our actual payments are, and we set the Mutually Agreed Value (the amount above which profits will be shared) at some amount greater than what we got the property for.
19. At this point the trust leases the property to the resident beneficiary on a ‘triple-net’ lease basis for the term of the land trust (i.e., a full contractual obligation to pay the mortgage interest, property tax and insurance).
20. We then put the overage from Escrow into our LLC's bank account
21. The positive cash continues to flow to our LLC throughout the agreement, while the resident beneficiary pays all the bills and handles all maintenance, management and upkeep.
22. At the end of the (5, 7 10 or ? year) term, the property is sold for ‘Fair Market Value’: either to the resident beneficiary or to someone else (if the resident buys, he buys at FMV, MINUS the money owed to him from his 50% share in profits); and our LLC receives 100% of the [“bumped”] equity that we’ve been carrying from inception, and 50% of all net profits (which, when added to the up-front money we got in the beginning and our positive cash flow along the way, creates a nice incentive to do a whole bunch of these babies).
John! Free houses! They’re everywhere! They’re everywhere!
Your Next O’ Kin,
Cuz Bill
To find out more about Landtrust and Equity Transfers Using Landtrust, Click Here.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
PRAYERS, WISHES, WANTS, NEEDS, DEATH AND DYING…AND DO YOU HONESTLY DESERVE WHAT YOU WISH FOR?
Bill J. Gatten
Some of us are born with the gifts that seem to automatically make superstars of us without a lot of effort (natural athletes, natural actors, natural musicians, artists, writers, the unnaturally lucky, etc); but alas, most of us are not superstars by virtue of our birthright. In fact, most of us have to establish whatever stardom we are ever to attain by the sweat of our brows, and most often in the face of sometimes seemingly insurmountable obstacles and handicaps that life has endowed us with (in order to test our steele) .
We did not choose the geographical location of our birth, our parents, their birth place or their mindsets; or the conditions under which they were raised, or how they raised us. We are, none-the-less, victims of all of those aspects of our own heredity, parentage, peer-pressure and early environment. Fortunately though, we have been given the gift of Free-Will, and the right to override or neutralize any part of our personal heritage and neural programming that we are willing to look at closely enough…and take the time necessary to understand it all and work through it, around it and in spite of it.
This aspect of our personal control over who we are, and can become, has many names: Self-Directed Destiny; Programmed Life Management; Objective Oriented Self-Discipline; Structured Determination, Focused Achievement, and so on. But to me it all boils down to just plain old ‘Personal Goal Setting.’
The most common error (and the most disastrous one) in Goal Setting is that of mistaking one’s Wishes (wants) with what Napoleon Hill referred to as “Burning Desire (unquenchable dire need).” It is only this burning desire that can lead us through the life-changes and mental re-programming so necessary for achievement of the abundance that is our absolute right and which most of us desire—even pray for.
To make a wish, we need do nothing but think it, retain it in our thoughts for a while, and wait and see what happens. With dire necessity, however, we must move several steps further, and acknowledge without question that we will actually die in some way should these elemental components of who we are go unfulfilled. We humans are simply incapable of allowing any real need to go unrealized. We will strive to fulfill our needs at any cost: wishes, hopes, dreams and passive prayer take a backseat..
Have any of us ever gone without water or food indefinitely? No. That’s because we would die if we did. Do drug addicts, alcoholics and tobacco users go without their regular daily fixes? No, because a terrible sickness and feeling of immense loss would overtake them, and a major part of who they have become would have to die a painful death. The fact is that no true need goes unrealized…ever. One might idly wish for food and drink and not get it right away: but when it becomes a matter of life and death it will never fail to appear (even to the extent of one’s own body’s resorting to digestion of itself in order to prolong existence as long as possible). Ergo, it would then seem that if a particular goal were to become a necessity incorporated into this “fear of death” equation, its attainment would be certain.
In support of this concept, consider the reason we panic when deprived of air for a brief while. It’s because we fear death. When struck with illness, our fear of dying calls our sympathetic and parasympathetic neural systems to the healing process to the detriment of life-saving sugar, protein and fat stores. When we have too little income, why do we worry and fret about bills, creditor retribution, legal action and loss of our personal possessions? It’s because we are overtly afraid of being unable to sustain our lives if we fail at those activities that are necessary for our survival.
It is the universal fear of dying that forces all of us to strive, to forage, earn, achieve and build (and re-build). Though we are hardly ever consciously aware of this ever-present fear it’s always there, prodding us ever onward, requiring toil, attainment, procreation and the building of stores in reserve. In view of all of this, doesn’t it then stand to reason that if we would seek to accomplish something heretofore seemingly unattainable or impossible, that it would naturally manifest if it were to be directly associated with our natural fear of death (i.e., becoming a dire necessity).
Let’s say you'd like to build a 40-story high-rise, or, say, a 1,200 foot-long aircraft carrier, you certainly are free to do begin doing so if you choose. Many have in fact built thousands of these things and were greatly rewarded for having done so. But, until completion of such work becomes an absolute necessity, you likely will never start; and if you do start, you will likely never finish. It's only when a major aspect of your life depends on it and will surely die otherwise, that you will do what all builders of 40-story high-rise buildings and aircraft carriers have always done…pull it from potential by imagining it, converting it to substance by drawing it and making it real by building it.
So…before writing out your objectives, choosing a mantra, and heading off to visit Mahesh Yogi in India on your trek toward bliss, take the time to figure out what your goals actually are; which of your “wishes” are worthy of being converted to “dire needs”; and what your resources for accomplishing these aspirations might be. Should you come up short in the “resources” area, then you have to write-out a plan for either attaining what you are lacking, or for replacing what your are lacking with something else of equal value that you have more than enough of (e.g., physical work can replace the need for cash; eliminating someone else's burden can replace the need for credit; patience can replace experience; caution, diligence and research can replace formal education; hard-learned valuable skills. And tenacity trumps a college degree every time.
A good test of what wants can be converted to needs, then to dire necessity is to ask yourself which of the following you could in-fact live without in reasonable comfort…if you had to. Strike through those items that are not completely necessary, and without which some part of you would not surely die. The items that are left over are beyond wishes: they are your wants. But its crucially important to know that until each want is elevated to the status of Need (a life-sustaining necessity) it will likely continue to remain allusive if not wholly unattainable.
• Full-time self-employment
• More social acceptance
• More public popularity
• Fame
• Prestige
• A better/safer living environment
• A rich person’s high-class lifestyle
• A bigger and more prestigious home
• A new, more rewarding career
• A less strenuous, demanding or tedious job
• More vacations and the ability to afford them
• A much higher income
• A new or more suitable spouse
• A new identity
• A more attractive physique
• A private airplane
• A chauffer driven limousine
• A new face
• New teeth
• A trimmer or m ore attractive body
• New friends
• Better friends
• A larger bank account
• A large stock portfolio
• A retirement fund
• True Happiness (Bliss)
• Personal contentment
• Freedom from drudgery
• More self-esteem
• A greater inner feeling of personal value
• Freedom from disease worries
• A newer car
• A more showy car
• An executive job title
• A bigger office
• A well-defined life-purpose
• Great spiritual fulfillment
• Greater spiritual understanding
• Absolute certainty re. the existence or non-existence of God, ghosts, space aliens, angels and mental telepathy
• A TIVO
• The ability to comfortably take risk
Prayers, Wishes, Wants (Desires)…and true Needs:
1) Praying - acknowledging your inability to attain on your own,
2) Wishing - being dissatisfied with the status quo (the way things are);
3) Wanting –preferring one thing over another thing with which you are not wholly dissatisfied
4) Needing – requiring a necessity of life (that avoids death to some degree)
Never forget that, according to Epictetus, a 5th Century BC orator: “[A person's] Wealth is measured only by the expense of one’s [that person's] pleasures.”
In other words, when life itself is your gift, and when the least expensive pleasures are your greatest rewards, you are already wealthy beyond calculation: no matter how much or how little money you have. My own true net-worth quadrupled when my children were born, and quadrupled again with the arrival of my grandchildren. Think about it…who is wealthier: the man with a big house and matching mortgage, five tapped-out credit cards and a 72-month payment plan on a new Mercedes Benz convertible--or a well-loved and highly respected Eskimo hunter with eight good dogs, a jolly fat wife, seven healthy children and five years worth of walrus blubber…and plenty more where that came from?
The answer is, of course, the Eskimo…but only until and unless he would develop an eye for more than he has and not be able to afford it: an insatiable taste for filet mignon, Chateau Lafitte Rothschild and Mercedes convertibles. Should that happen, he instantly tumbles from real true Wealth to abject poverty…UNLESS those things are what he needed and knew he deserved all along, and he planned well relative to their affordability and his adaptability.
Converting a Want to a Need, and a Need to a Burning Desire (dire need) are the first real steps in goal setting, and the process requires much thought and definitive action. For example, if you're having difficulty in making the life-saving decision to jump off the 200 foot high cliff into the cold raging river below, in order to protect yourself from the menacing band of marauders who are hot on your trail, out to kill you, and drawing nearer every minute…just do this: Tie the end of a long rope around your waist, then tie the other end around a massive round rock. Then roll the rock to the edge of the cliff. If you‘re still afraid to jump but know you have to, just push the rock the rest of the way over…your fate is now sealed. You needn't worry about making the decisions any longer. Definitive action tied to need is what brings all “potential” into the physical universe and into our lives.
The Peloponnesian War of 404 BC between the Spartans and the Athenians serves a good example of how wants are quickly converted to needs.
When the Spartan ships landed and the soldiers were outfitted and lined up for the siege, all their ships were set on fire, eliminating any possibility of retreat. It was at that point that the Spartans realized that they must either be the victors or die trying (as it were)…there was no means for retreat. With this added incentive the Spartans annihilated 25% of the Athenian Population and took charge of Greece…having fulfilled a need that might not have worked out so well for them had they retained the ability to withdraw when the going got rough.
To become honestly wealthy and attain abundance in this life you must first know what it is that you honestly want, and then you must convert that want to dire need and give yourself no choice but success.
SO WHAT WILL BE YOUR PLAN OF ACTION (I.E., YOUR “POA”)?
One’s “POA” is that long rope and that big ol' rock at the edge of the cliff referred to earlier.
The POA is your design for success. It is the very map of your destiny. It becomes your guide to all of what you must do to become who and what you ‘need’ to be (not what you ‘want’ to be), and to attain all of what you need to own and control during this roller coaster ride called “Life.”
Goals that are held only in the mind of the hopeful are never goals at all. They're just residual random electronic impulses left over from unfulfilled wishes, nothing more. It's only when our hopes and dreams begin the physical transformation from potential (yet to exist) to substance (materiality) through the process of writing them down on paper (or chiseling them in stone) that they can begin to metamorphose into need fulfillment.
As has been said many times, handwriting your goals is always preferable to typing them out in your word processor. The more arduous and physical the mind-to-hand transference exercise is, the more likely the transformation will take place (i.e., the moving of a conceptualization from the ethereal realm of pure ‘potential’ into our world or physical reality). Although I don’t believe viewing your goals daily and repeating them aloud to the bathroom mirror and moaning a mantra is ever necessary, it is none-the-less a good idea to keep them in a safe place, and review and modify them every few months.
Forty years ago, I was dissatisfied living on only $326 per-month (before deductions); but with that income I could fairly comfortably cover a $60.00 per-month rent payment; a $35.00 per month payments on my brand new Ford Falcon; I could buy gasoline (39 cents a gallon), J.C. Penny's clothing; and all the groceries I needed, for about $15.00 per week. And after the bills were paid I still occasionally had enough left over to take my wife to a drive-in movie once a month or so. Oh, and water was almost free then (‘didn’t know it had to come in a bottle in those days).
Interestingly most of my close friends at the time who made even less than I did could somehow always afford to buy a case of beer along with their groceries every week. I often wondered how they managed to do that, when we seldom had anything left over at all, especially for fun stuff. I once asked my buddy Bob about it and he jokingly replied…”Hey man, it’s because beer’s a number one staple in my diet and I can’t live without it.” I didn’t get it at the time, but forty years later I now appreciate the philosophy. This fact is that I only “wanted” a case of beer every week, but didn’t need it, so didn’t budget for it. Bob needed it…and it appeared every week. If it’s not a need, then it’s only a passing fancy.
In those days we associated with some who couldn't afford even as much as we could (much less ol’ Bob): but I felt somehow looked-down-upon by those with whom I most wanted to impress and associate: high school friends who were coming out of college as doctors, lawyers, engineers, dentists; local civic activists; politicians, etc.). But now, 40 years later, because of converting my wishes to necessities, I find myself earning more than most all of those old friends, but prone to becoming frantic if my monthly income drops below $30-40,000.00 (after deductions).
What do you suppose it is that I'm doing any differently today than I was forty years ago?
I'm doing absolutely nothing different, except following a plan that converts wants to needs. And directly because of that plan, I now live in a much larger house in a much nicer area; I drive nicer cars and because of a far larger bank account, take more elaborate vacations and eat snootier foods.
And, too, I've thrust various ancillary necessities into my current lifestyle that weren't there before (vacation cruises, country clubs, first-class and frequent airline travel, nice hotels, fine dining, fine clothing, housekeepers, gardeners, maintenance people, big screen TV's, hobnobbing with the rich and phony, etc.): all this is luxury that was absent and thought to be unattainable a few years back. But now-a-days I never think of these elements of my life as being luxuries…today they are (in my present mindset) integral pieces of who I am, whom I have worked and planned to become, and whom I choose to be (…and I ain't finished yet).
Were I now to be deprived of any one of these previously ancillary and unnecessary (un-needed) items, a part of who I envision myself to be would cease to exist (i.e., that is to say that part of my persona would die). My so-called luxuries are no longer just wants and wishes…but are now a part of my bundle of perceived necessities to be retained and defended as an important part of the self I have built.
Could I live without these things if I had to? Absolutely! A part of me could, but another part would die and that scares the other part enough to endeavor to avoid the loss. Could I be happy without these things? Absolutely (OK, ‘maybe’…after a while). Am I wealthier because of these things? No! 'Richer perhaps, but by no means wealthier. But, would I fight to defend and hang on to what I have? You bet! Would I gladly and freely give away any extra that I have been given? You bet! It’s weird…but the more I give of what I have, the less I need and the more I receive, for some inexplicable reason.
This “reason,” by the way, is fully ‘explicated (explicable)’ in the Bible and virtually all other religious writings: what it boils down to is that the Universe abhors a vacuum; therefore, our deigning to create a void by giving something away can only result in the instantaneous refilling of it…which process invariably returns far more than was given away:
“Give it away and you shall receive more of it.” “Ask “how” and never “why” and you will be answered and rewarded.” “Seek and you will find abundance…when it is truly needed.” That is the uncompromising Universal Law of abundance, and…if you ever read Napoleon Hill’s, ‘Think and Grow Rich,’ that is…“The Secret.”
Oh yeah, and long-live the marvelous third-party trustee, co-beneficiary, inter vivos title-holding land trust transfer (the NARS Equity Holding Trust™ Transfer System).
To find out more about Landtrust and Equity Transfers Using Landtrust, Click Here.
Some of us are born with the gifts that seem to automatically make superstars of us without a lot of effort (natural athletes, natural actors, natural musicians, artists, writers, the unnaturally lucky, etc); but alas, most of us are not superstars by virtue of our birthright. In fact, most of us have to establish whatever stardom we are ever to attain by the sweat of our brows, and most often in the face of sometimes seemingly insurmountable obstacles and handicaps that life has endowed us with (in order to test our steele) .
We did not choose the geographical location of our birth, our parents, their birth place or their mindsets; or the conditions under which they were raised, or how they raised us. We are, none-the-less, victims of all of those aspects of our own heredity, parentage, peer-pressure and early environment. Fortunately though, we have been given the gift of Free-Will, and the right to override or neutralize any part of our personal heritage and neural programming that we are willing to look at closely enough…and take the time necessary to understand it all and work through it, around it and in spite of it.
This aspect of our personal control over who we are, and can become, has many names: Self-Directed Destiny; Programmed Life Management; Objective Oriented Self-Discipline; Structured Determination, Focused Achievement, and so on. But to me it all boils down to just plain old ‘Personal Goal Setting.’
The most common error (and the most disastrous one) in Goal Setting is that of mistaking one’s Wishes (wants) with what Napoleon Hill referred to as “Burning Desire (unquenchable dire need).” It is only this burning desire that can lead us through the life-changes and mental re-programming so necessary for achievement of the abundance that is our absolute right and which most of us desire—even pray for.
To make a wish, we need do nothing but think it, retain it in our thoughts for a while, and wait and see what happens. With dire necessity, however, we must move several steps further, and acknowledge without question that we will actually die in some way should these elemental components of who we are go unfulfilled. We humans are simply incapable of allowing any real need to go unrealized. We will strive to fulfill our needs at any cost: wishes, hopes, dreams and passive prayer take a backseat..
Have any of us ever gone without water or food indefinitely? No. That’s because we would die if we did. Do drug addicts, alcoholics and tobacco users go without their regular daily fixes? No, because a terrible sickness and feeling of immense loss would overtake them, and a major part of who they have become would have to die a painful death. The fact is that no true need goes unrealized…ever. One might idly wish for food and drink and not get it right away: but when it becomes a matter of life and death it will never fail to appear (even to the extent of one’s own body’s resorting to digestion of itself in order to prolong existence as long as possible). Ergo, it would then seem that if a particular goal were to become a necessity incorporated into this “fear of death” equation, its attainment would be certain.
In support of this concept, consider the reason we panic when deprived of air for a brief while. It’s because we fear death. When struck with illness, our fear of dying calls our sympathetic and parasympathetic neural systems to the healing process to the detriment of life-saving sugar, protein and fat stores. When we have too little income, why do we worry and fret about bills, creditor retribution, legal action and loss of our personal possessions? It’s because we are overtly afraid of being unable to sustain our lives if we fail at those activities that are necessary for our survival.
It is the universal fear of dying that forces all of us to strive, to forage, earn, achieve and build (and re-build). Though we are hardly ever consciously aware of this ever-present fear it’s always there, prodding us ever onward, requiring toil, attainment, procreation and the building of stores in reserve. In view of all of this, doesn’t it then stand to reason that if we would seek to accomplish something heretofore seemingly unattainable or impossible, that it would naturally manifest if it were to be directly associated with our natural fear of death (i.e., becoming a dire necessity).
Let’s say you'd like to build a 40-story high-rise, or, say, a 1,200 foot-long aircraft carrier, you certainly are free to do begin doing so if you choose. Many have in fact built thousands of these things and were greatly rewarded for having done so. But, until completion of such work becomes an absolute necessity, you likely will never start; and if you do start, you will likely never finish. It's only when a major aspect of your life depends on it and will surely die otherwise, that you will do what all builders of 40-story high-rise buildings and aircraft carriers have always done…pull it from potential by imagining it, converting it to substance by drawing it and making it real by building it.
So…before writing out your objectives, choosing a mantra, and heading off to visit Mahesh Yogi in India on your trek toward bliss, take the time to figure out what your goals actually are; which of your “wishes” are worthy of being converted to “dire needs”; and what your resources for accomplishing these aspirations might be. Should you come up short in the “resources” area, then you have to write-out a plan for either attaining what you are lacking, or for replacing what your are lacking with something else of equal value that you have more than enough of (e.g., physical work can replace the need for cash; eliminating someone else's burden can replace the need for credit; patience can replace experience; caution, diligence and research can replace formal education; hard-learned valuable skills. And tenacity trumps a college degree every time.
A good test of what wants can be converted to needs, then to dire necessity is to ask yourself which of the following you could in-fact live without in reasonable comfort…if you had to. Strike through those items that are not completely necessary, and without which some part of you would not surely die. The items that are left over are beyond wishes: they are your wants. But its crucially important to know that until each want is elevated to the status of Need (a life-sustaining necessity) it will likely continue to remain allusive if not wholly unattainable.
• Full-time self-employment
• More social acceptance
• More public popularity
• Fame
• Prestige
• A better/safer living environment
• A rich person’s high-class lifestyle
• A bigger and more prestigious home
• A new, more rewarding career
• A less strenuous, demanding or tedious job
• More vacations and the ability to afford them
• A much higher income
• A new or more suitable spouse
• A new identity
• A more attractive physique
• A private airplane
• A chauffer driven limousine
• A new face
• New teeth
• A trimmer or m ore attractive body
• New friends
• Better friends
• A larger bank account
• A large stock portfolio
• A retirement fund
• True Happiness (Bliss)
• Personal contentment
• Freedom from drudgery
• More self-esteem
• A greater inner feeling of personal value
• Freedom from disease worries
• A newer car
• A more showy car
• An executive job title
• A bigger office
• A well-defined life-purpose
• Great spiritual fulfillment
• Greater spiritual understanding
• Absolute certainty re. the existence or non-existence of God, ghosts, space aliens, angels and mental telepathy
• A TIVO
• The ability to comfortably take risk
Prayers, Wishes, Wants (Desires)…and true Needs:
1) Praying - acknowledging your inability to attain on your own,
2) Wishing - being dissatisfied with the status quo (the way things are);
3) Wanting –preferring one thing over another thing with which you are not wholly dissatisfied
4) Needing – requiring a necessity of life (that avoids death to some degree)
Never forget that, according to Epictetus, a 5th Century BC orator: “[A person's] Wealth is measured only by the expense of one’s [that person's] pleasures.”
In other words, when life itself is your gift, and when the least expensive pleasures are your greatest rewards, you are already wealthy beyond calculation: no matter how much or how little money you have. My own true net-worth quadrupled when my children were born, and quadrupled again with the arrival of my grandchildren. Think about it…who is wealthier: the man with a big house and matching mortgage, five tapped-out credit cards and a 72-month payment plan on a new Mercedes Benz convertible--or a well-loved and highly respected Eskimo hunter with eight good dogs, a jolly fat wife, seven healthy children and five years worth of walrus blubber…and plenty more where that came from?
The answer is, of course, the Eskimo…but only until and unless he would develop an eye for more than he has and not be able to afford it: an insatiable taste for filet mignon, Chateau Lafitte Rothschild and Mercedes convertibles. Should that happen, he instantly tumbles from real true Wealth to abject poverty…UNLESS those things are what he needed and knew he deserved all along, and he planned well relative to their affordability and his adaptability.
Converting a Want to a Need, and a Need to a Burning Desire (dire need) are the first real steps in goal setting, and the process requires much thought and definitive action. For example, if you're having difficulty in making the life-saving decision to jump off the 200 foot high cliff into the cold raging river below, in order to protect yourself from the menacing band of marauders who are hot on your trail, out to kill you, and drawing nearer every minute…just do this: Tie the end of a long rope around your waist, then tie the other end around a massive round rock. Then roll the rock to the edge of the cliff. If you‘re still afraid to jump but know you have to, just push the rock the rest of the way over…your fate is now sealed. You needn't worry about making the decisions any longer. Definitive action tied to need is what brings all “potential” into the physical universe and into our lives.
The Peloponnesian War of 404 BC between the Spartans and the Athenians serves a good example of how wants are quickly converted to needs.
When the Spartan ships landed and the soldiers were outfitted and lined up for the siege, all their ships were set on fire, eliminating any possibility of retreat. It was at that point that the Spartans realized that they must either be the victors or die trying (as it were)…there was no means for retreat. With this added incentive the Spartans annihilated 25% of the Athenian Population and took charge of Greece…having fulfilled a need that might not have worked out so well for them had they retained the ability to withdraw when the going got rough.
To become honestly wealthy and attain abundance in this life you must first know what it is that you honestly want, and then you must convert that want to dire need and give yourself no choice but success.
SO WHAT WILL BE YOUR PLAN OF ACTION (I.E., YOUR “POA”)?
One’s “POA” is that long rope and that big ol' rock at the edge of the cliff referred to earlier.
The POA is your design for success. It is the very map of your destiny. It becomes your guide to all of what you must do to become who and what you ‘need’ to be (not what you ‘want’ to be), and to attain all of what you need to own and control during this roller coaster ride called “Life.”
Goals that are held only in the mind of the hopeful are never goals at all. They're just residual random electronic impulses left over from unfulfilled wishes, nothing more. It's only when our hopes and dreams begin the physical transformation from potential (yet to exist) to substance (materiality) through the process of writing them down on paper (or chiseling them in stone) that they can begin to metamorphose into need fulfillment.
As has been said many times, handwriting your goals is always preferable to typing them out in your word processor. The more arduous and physical the mind-to-hand transference exercise is, the more likely the transformation will take place (i.e., the moving of a conceptualization from the ethereal realm of pure ‘potential’ into our world or physical reality). Although I don’t believe viewing your goals daily and repeating them aloud to the bathroom mirror and moaning a mantra is ever necessary, it is none-the-less a good idea to keep them in a safe place, and review and modify them every few months.
Forty years ago, I was dissatisfied living on only $326 per-month (before deductions); but with that income I could fairly comfortably cover a $60.00 per-month rent payment; a $35.00 per month payments on my brand new Ford Falcon; I could buy gasoline (39 cents a gallon), J.C. Penny's clothing; and all the groceries I needed, for about $15.00 per week. And after the bills were paid I still occasionally had enough left over to take my wife to a drive-in movie once a month or so. Oh, and water was almost free then (‘didn’t know it had to come in a bottle in those days).
Interestingly most of my close friends at the time who made even less than I did could somehow always afford to buy a case of beer along with their groceries every week. I often wondered how they managed to do that, when we seldom had anything left over at all, especially for fun stuff. I once asked my buddy Bob about it and he jokingly replied…”Hey man, it’s because beer’s a number one staple in my diet and I can’t live without it.” I didn’t get it at the time, but forty years later I now appreciate the philosophy. This fact is that I only “wanted” a case of beer every week, but didn’t need it, so didn’t budget for it. Bob needed it…and it appeared every week. If it’s not a need, then it’s only a passing fancy.
In those days we associated with some who couldn't afford even as much as we could (much less ol’ Bob): but I felt somehow looked-down-upon by those with whom I most wanted to impress and associate: high school friends who were coming out of college as doctors, lawyers, engineers, dentists; local civic activists; politicians, etc.). But now, 40 years later, because of converting my wishes to necessities, I find myself earning more than most all of those old friends, but prone to becoming frantic if my monthly income drops below $30-40,000.00 (after deductions).
What do you suppose it is that I'm doing any differently today than I was forty years ago?
I'm doing absolutely nothing different, except following a plan that converts wants to needs. And directly because of that plan, I now live in a much larger house in a much nicer area; I drive nicer cars and because of a far larger bank account, take more elaborate vacations and eat snootier foods.
And, too, I've thrust various ancillary necessities into my current lifestyle that weren't there before (vacation cruises, country clubs, first-class and frequent airline travel, nice hotels, fine dining, fine clothing, housekeepers, gardeners, maintenance people, big screen TV's, hobnobbing with the rich and phony, etc.): all this is luxury that was absent and thought to be unattainable a few years back. But now-a-days I never think of these elements of my life as being luxuries…today they are (in my present mindset) integral pieces of who I am, whom I have worked and planned to become, and whom I choose to be (…and I ain't finished yet).
Were I now to be deprived of any one of these previously ancillary and unnecessary (un-needed) items, a part of who I envision myself to be would cease to exist (i.e., that is to say that part of my persona would die). My so-called luxuries are no longer just wants and wishes…but are now a part of my bundle of perceived necessities to be retained and defended as an important part of the self I have built.
Could I live without these things if I had to? Absolutely! A part of me could, but another part would die and that scares the other part enough to endeavor to avoid the loss. Could I be happy without these things? Absolutely (OK, ‘maybe’…after a while). Am I wealthier because of these things? No! 'Richer perhaps, but by no means wealthier. But, would I fight to defend and hang on to what I have? You bet! Would I gladly and freely give away any extra that I have been given? You bet! It’s weird…but the more I give of what I have, the less I need and the more I receive, for some inexplicable reason.
This “reason,” by the way, is fully ‘explicated (explicable)’ in the Bible and virtually all other religious writings: what it boils down to is that the Universe abhors a vacuum; therefore, our deigning to create a void by giving something away can only result in the instantaneous refilling of it…which process invariably returns far more than was given away:
“Give it away and you shall receive more of it.” “Ask “how” and never “why” and you will be answered and rewarded.” “Seek and you will find abundance…when it is truly needed.” That is the uncompromising Universal Law of abundance, and…if you ever read Napoleon Hill’s, ‘Think and Grow Rich,’ that is…“The Secret.”
Oh yeah, and long-live the marvelous third-party trustee, co-beneficiary, inter vivos title-holding land trust transfer (the NARS Equity Holding Trust™ Transfer System).
To find out more about Landtrust and Equity Transfers Using Landtrust, Click Here.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
ANOTHER WEIRD DECISION
Re. Lease Options
By Bill Gatten
In a nutshell, what happened in this case was that the Option term was overshot by nearly 3 months before any attempt to exercise it took place: but the Optionor was none-the-less forced to sell at the original option price. The court mandated this sale, even though (and partially because) the property had increased in value by $54,000. The Optionor (owner) in this case was even directed by the court to refund all moneys having been taken for insurance and property tax over the term of the purchase option, and also to pay reasonable attorneys fees to the optionee on top of it all.
I have researched the data through the defendant in the case, one of the brokers involved and an attorney friend of mine who happens to know someone involved in the case (knows the uncle of the cousin of the plaintiff's next-door neighbor's former boyfriend’s Gardner’s uncle).
Here's the deal as told to me and verified by direct interviews with two of the parties involved and the others mentioned above:
On December 1st, 1997, Party A (a seller) accepted a PACTrust™ Purchase Offer from Party B (the buyer) which was to have commenced on, or about the 18th of the same month, and which was to have include payments for PITI+HOA and a monthly Trustee Fee. The property was deemed to have been worth $195,000 at the time, but the property owner accepted a PACTRust™ Mutually Agreed Value of $181,000. Their real estate broker informed the seller that Party B had filed a bankruptcy in the recent past, and that their former home had been deeded to a relative to protect it from the bankruptcy proceedings.
On December 18, a new agreement…a Lease Option…was drawn up in lieu of the PACTrust™ because the buyer’s attorney didn’t under it and said that a Lease Option would do the same thing and be simpler. This change was initially rejected by Seller; but being faced with the expense of re-marketing the property, relented and accept the Leaser Option alternative. Party A indicated that the Lease Option would become effective only if there was a full Escrow, and then only upon the official closing of such Escrow. However, the Escrow was never opened due to the hesitation of the Optionee to bring in all the required monies…again the sellers relented and allowed the Lease Option to begin without an escrow process.. It was clearly understood by all parties at that time that a balloon payment relative to the financing on the property was coming due in full on 08/01/99 (about one year and eight months later).
1/98 - The first payment and partial option fee was several weeks late ion coming. The hazard insurance and the HOA were not paid by the occupant for 2 months.
2/98 - Option Agreement (retroactive from 12/18/97 to 12/18/98) finally executed by Optionor, but never acknowledged by Optionees.
A year goes by…
12-18-98 - Option Agreement terminates. There is no offer or effort to exercise the option to buy.
2/1/99 - Property had gone up in value from $181,000 to approximately $235,000 (good upswing in Ca. Market). Over the term of the Option Agreement, the monthly payments had invariably been 1 to 2 months late (to the detriment of Optionor's credit record) and paid only after “nagging and begging” by the Optionor. Likewise, the Homeowner’s Association dues were always 2-3 months late. The hazard insurance carrier threatened cancellation for non-payment on at least one occasion. On various occasions, Party A had to pay HOA dues our of their own pocket in order to avoid a lien being placed on the property by the association…an act that would end up biting them butt-wise (as it were) later on.
2/15/99 - Party B (now a rental tenant on holdover) was notified of the planned sale of the property by Party A, who, feeling sorry for them and their financial condition, offered to return Party B's original option fee (about $3,500). Party B then became aware of the value of the house, and sought out an attorney (a partner in the law firm of Tyler and Dorsa, Temecula, Ca). This firm, I'm told, sued for their client’s (Party B's) right to exercise the Lease Purchase Option, even though the option date had bypassed by over three months.
Party B’s claim was that they had been iunder the impression that they had obtained a financing commitment at 85% LTV just prior to, or just after approaching the law firm; but were subsequently turned-down by the lender when it was discovered that a house they had formerly owned had been foreclosed upon. It was also discovered by at that time that Party B was in the midst of an "eviction" and UDT Action: it is rumored that to hide the property from their BK they had moved a relative into it, whom their lender thought was the borrower… (this info is not confirmed, however).
Next, Party B made a Purchase Offer to Party A for a sum, which would have given Party A about $10,000 cash. That offer was rejected and followed with a counter offer for an amount that was $10,000 under market. Party B rejected the counter.
The suit that then ensued was based upon: "The detrimental reliance of Party B upon an oral modification of the original Lease Option (purportedly an oral Agreement to Extend…which Party A insists was never proffered, but which the Realtor for Party B insisted at the hearing had been made)." Interestingly, the Lease Option contract contained an estopple strictly forbidding any reliance upon ANY oral modifications to the Agreement (but that didn't matter to our "pioneer law maker, semi-retired" judge/arbitrator).
Now, Party A, in order to avoid the minimum of a one year delay that a court hearing would no doubt entail, agreed after the failure of their UDT, to Arbitration. The arbitration hearing was overseen by one Judge Kenneth Ziebarth Ret. (retired, but still sitting on the bench in San Juan Capistrano) and concluded by "J.A.M.A. Endispute" at the rate of $240 per hour (including the Judge's research).
5/4/99 Judgement rendered in favor of Party B. The judge's statement was that "Even in view of the caveat prohibiting reliance upon oral modifications, there must have been acceptance. Why on Earth else would Party B not have exercised an Option that would clearly give them $54,000 in equity in a property in which they had been diligently making payments on for over a year?" The order was for Party A to sell to Party B at the price of $181,000 (the original Option Price); and to give Party B 60 days in which to arrange for financing. And since the Option itself did not contain a provision for HOA dues and insurance, Party A is now also to refund all such sums paid by Party B. The fact that Party B was not responsible for the HOA dues was, of course, evidenced by Party A's having paid them on several occasions. They are also directed to pay court costs and all of plaintiff's reasonable attorney's fees (so I am told).
It appears that a Hard Money lender has now agreed to loan 75% on the property, without any consideration for credit, credit history or the former BK and eviction record. It is apparent to all concerned, however, that once the sale does take place, Party B will be forced to default and lose the property to the hard-money lender: at this point they are believed to be virtually "stone broke." They haven’t even enough even for Closing Costs, and have never, it is said, had enough money to even cover their lease obligations on a timely basis, much less the new mortgage payments which will be considerably higher.
Closing Costs? No problemo. Party B has indicated that they plan to cover their Closing Costs with the settlement money from Party A. And Party A has a taped recorded message from Party B indicating that if Party B's payment record is revealed to the new prospective lender, that they (Party B) will tie up the property beyond the call date of the existing loan, and notify the lender that the house is not owner-occupied (a provision of reinstatement of the 5 year call date).
How do you spell, "This deal sucks?"
Bill
In answer to those who are asking the question, Mrs. A tells us that she and Mr. A would now “give anything” to have had the foresight to have insisted on the original PACTrust™ offer as originally proposed. It would have made Party B no more than a tenant in the property and easy to evict without the claim equity, options or ownership rights per-se (even though all the "primary benefits of ownership” would have been held fully in tact for the resident beneficiary).
To find out more about Landtrust and Equity Transfers Using Landtrust, Click Here.
By Bill Gatten
In a nutshell, what happened in this case was that the Option term was overshot by nearly 3 months before any attempt to exercise it took place: but the Optionor was none-the-less forced to sell at the original option price. The court mandated this sale, even though (and partially because) the property had increased in value by $54,000. The Optionor (owner) in this case was even directed by the court to refund all moneys having been taken for insurance and property tax over the term of the purchase option, and also to pay reasonable attorneys fees to the optionee on top of it all.
I have researched the data through the defendant in the case, one of the brokers involved and an attorney friend of mine who happens to know someone involved in the case (knows the uncle of the cousin of the plaintiff's next-door neighbor's former boyfriend’s Gardner’s uncle).
Here's the deal as told to me and verified by direct interviews with two of the parties involved and the others mentioned above:
On December 1st, 1997, Party A (a seller) accepted a PACTrust™ Purchase Offer from Party B (the buyer) which was to have commenced on, or about the 18th of the same month, and which was to have include payments for PITI+HOA and a monthly Trustee Fee. The property was deemed to have been worth $195,000 at the time, but the property owner accepted a PACTRust™ Mutually Agreed Value of $181,000. Their real estate broker informed the seller that Party B had filed a bankruptcy in the recent past, and that their former home had been deeded to a relative to protect it from the bankruptcy proceedings.
On December 18, a new agreement…a Lease Option…was drawn up in lieu of the PACTrust™ because the buyer’s attorney didn’t under it and said that a Lease Option would do the same thing and be simpler. This change was initially rejected by Seller; but being faced with the expense of re-marketing the property, relented and accept the Leaser Option alternative. Party A indicated that the Lease Option would become effective only if there was a full Escrow, and then only upon the official closing of such Escrow. However, the Escrow was never opened due to the hesitation of the Optionee to bring in all the required monies…again the sellers relented and allowed the Lease Option to begin without an escrow process.. It was clearly understood by all parties at that time that a balloon payment relative to the financing on the property was coming due in full on 08/01/99 (about one year and eight months later).
1/98 - The first payment and partial option fee was several weeks late ion coming. The hazard insurance and the HOA were not paid by the occupant for 2 months.
2/98 - Option Agreement (retroactive from 12/18/97 to 12/18/98) finally executed by Optionor, but never acknowledged by Optionees.
A year goes by…
12-18-98 - Option Agreement terminates. There is no offer or effort to exercise the option to buy.
2/1/99 - Property had gone up in value from $181,000 to approximately $235,000 (good upswing in Ca. Market). Over the term of the Option Agreement, the monthly payments had invariably been 1 to 2 months late (to the detriment of Optionor's credit record) and paid only after “nagging and begging” by the Optionor. Likewise, the Homeowner’s Association dues were always 2-3 months late. The hazard insurance carrier threatened cancellation for non-payment on at least one occasion. On various occasions, Party A had to pay HOA dues our of their own pocket in order to avoid a lien being placed on the property by the association…an act that would end up biting them butt-wise (as it were) later on.
2/15/99 - Party B (now a rental tenant on holdover) was notified of the planned sale of the property by Party A, who, feeling sorry for them and their financial condition, offered to return Party B's original option fee (about $3,500). Party B then became aware of the value of the house, and sought out an attorney (a partner in the law firm of Tyler and Dorsa, Temecula, Ca). This firm, I'm told, sued for their client’s (Party B's) right to exercise the Lease Purchase Option, even though the option date had bypassed by over three months.
Party B’s claim was that they had been iunder the impression that they had obtained a financing commitment at 85% LTV just prior to, or just after approaching the law firm; but were subsequently turned-down by the lender when it was discovered that a house they had formerly owned had been foreclosed upon. It was also discovered by at that time that Party B was in the midst of an "eviction" and UDT Action: it is rumored that to hide the property from their BK they had moved a relative into it, whom their lender thought was the borrower… (this info is not confirmed, however).
Next, Party B made a Purchase Offer to Party A for a sum, which would have given Party A about $10,000 cash. That offer was rejected and followed with a counter offer for an amount that was $10,000 under market. Party B rejected the counter.
The suit that then ensued was based upon: "The detrimental reliance of Party B upon an oral modification of the original Lease Option (purportedly an oral Agreement to Extend…which Party A insists was never proffered, but which the Realtor for Party B insisted at the hearing had been made)." Interestingly, the Lease Option contract contained an estopple strictly forbidding any reliance upon ANY oral modifications to the Agreement (but that didn't matter to our "pioneer law maker, semi-retired" judge/arbitrator).
Now, Party A, in order to avoid the minimum of a one year delay that a court hearing would no doubt entail, agreed after the failure of their UDT, to Arbitration. The arbitration hearing was overseen by one Judge Kenneth Ziebarth Ret. (retired, but still sitting on the bench in San Juan Capistrano) and concluded by "J.A.M.A. Endispute" at the rate of $240 per hour (including the Judge's research).
5/4/99 Judgement rendered in favor of Party B. The judge's statement was that "Even in view of the caveat prohibiting reliance upon oral modifications, there must have been acceptance. Why on Earth else would Party B not have exercised an Option that would clearly give them $54,000 in equity in a property in which they had been diligently making payments on for over a year?" The order was for Party A to sell to Party B at the price of $181,000 (the original Option Price); and to give Party B 60 days in which to arrange for financing. And since the Option itself did not contain a provision for HOA dues and insurance, Party A is now also to refund all such sums paid by Party B. The fact that Party B was not responsible for the HOA dues was, of course, evidenced by Party A's having paid them on several occasions. They are also directed to pay court costs and all of plaintiff's reasonable attorney's fees (so I am told).
It appears that a Hard Money lender has now agreed to loan 75% on the property, without any consideration for credit, credit history or the former BK and eviction record. It is apparent to all concerned, however, that once the sale does take place, Party B will be forced to default and lose the property to the hard-money lender: at this point they are believed to be virtually "stone broke." They haven’t even enough even for Closing Costs, and have never, it is said, had enough money to even cover their lease obligations on a timely basis, much less the new mortgage payments which will be considerably higher.
Closing Costs? No problemo. Party B has indicated that they plan to cover their Closing Costs with the settlement money from Party A. And Party A has a taped recorded message from Party B indicating that if Party B's payment record is revealed to the new prospective lender, that they (Party B) will tie up the property beyond the call date of the existing loan, and notify the lender that the house is not owner-occupied (a provision of reinstatement of the 5 year call date).
How do you spell, "This deal sucks?"
Bill
In answer to those who are asking the question, Mrs. A tells us that she and Mr. A would now “give anything” to have had the foresight to have insisted on the original PACTrust™ offer as originally proposed. It would have made Party B no more than a tenant in the property and easy to evict without the claim equity, options or ownership rights per-se (even though all the "primary benefits of ownership” would have been held fully in tact for the resident beneficiary).
To find out more about Landtrust and Equity Transfers Using Landtrust, Click Here.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
ANOTHER BUTT KICKING
By popular request, let’s revisit an article by Bill from one of last year’s newsletters. It seem to be just about as valid today as it was then.
-0-
ANOTHER BUTT KICKING
by bill gatten
A year ago I offered “The Challenge” to a gentleman we’ll Call Throckmorton Glunk. After about two weeks I didn’t hear from him until a week ago. Our deal was that if he did 100% of everything I said to do, without question or hesitation, and report to me weekly, we’d make him a Network Member for free (We don’t do dat no more due to the “It’s Worth What You Pay For It” philosophy).
A week ago he said he was back on the job after some personal mishaps and was ready to get started. Our discourse follows.
> Throckmorton,
>
> We get one shot at these things! You were to have been my poster boy, and then you > > dropped the ball on me. No hard feelings, and I'm wishing you the very best of >everything, but now you're on your own...you'll be a network member once you've >gotten your stride and your confidence and enough cash in the bank to join up with us >(and you'll be VERY welcome when you do).
THE REJOINDER:
You wrote:: Ok, I guess I will be posting a lot then. I am truly sorry if you see what happened as me dropping the ball. I guess we have totally different points of view on the subject. I was, in no way, in a position to pursue this until now. As I said, I had no job and $0 (ZERO Money). I also had no one that I could borrow money from, and yes, I tried. I don't know if you have ever been there, but it is not a fun position. And, no offense, but I had to choose, put an ad in the paper, or eat. The choice was obvious at the time. An add MIGHT get me money in a few weeks, or months. The food was survival, now.
:I am also sorry that you are going to miss out on me being your poster boy, because I would make a good one, and I would have shouted to the hilltops, and posted everywhere, those who helped me get there. I know with the right direction, I can succeed at anything. And, once I do, I will thank you for sending me the package. I truly hope that going through the package again will give me what I need to succeed. The only problem I have is what the past has shown. As I stated in my first letter to you, I have
read through MANY real estate courses, and followed what they said, and nothing happened. The problem is, when you run up against a wall, there is no one to ask what to do. I know I can post, but, unfortunately, sometimes you need an immediate response. I just hope that does not happen until I get things going.
Thanks,
Sincerely,
Throckmorton Glunk
P.S. Please don't get me wrong, I am in no way mad at you for your decision, just disappointed. I truly believed you would understand my situation, and realize that I was getting on the stick as fast as I possibly could. Thanks again.
MY REPLY:
Throckmorton,
Let's analyze your most recent letter to me and see if there's an attitude adjustment in order (for the good of your future success). It'll be your choice...your success is none of my business: though I am most in favor of it coming.
YOU WROTE:: Ok, I guess I will be posting a lot then.
And...? Why wouldn't you be posting a lot anyway?
YOU WROTE:: I am truly sorry if you see what happened as me dropping the ball. I guess we have totally different points of view on the subject.
Are you saying you DIDN'T drop the ball? That would mean then that I did. There are only the two of us here. How can our respective points of view vary in any way? Whatever your reasons were, I had nothing to do with your decisions to "drop the ball." If I'm playing basketball and on my way to a slam dunk I suddenly discover my shorts are on fire, I have to choose whether to complete the shot or immerse my rear end in a bucket of water...but I'm not going to tell the coach that we differ in our opinions as to why I had to drop the ball. I'll simply trust that he’ll take me out of the game, understand my reasons and be disappointed that I didn't choose to finish the shot instead. Later though I might look back and say, "Damn that would ‘a been a dynamite shot if I'd just hung for another 10 seconds...especially with my ass on fire!"
YOU WROTE:: As I said, I had no job and $0 (ZERO Money).
In 1989 I had no job an zero money, as well, and in order to put bread on the table I had to figure out a way to buy valuable assets with no money, no credit and no time (I was too lazy to get a job) ...I immediately started making local phone calls on people who had stuff of value they didn't want anymore and which I knew I could sell quickly for cash (houses and condos). No one told me that I couldn't do it...and I saw it as my way out of the darkness...and I didn't have a mentor ('didn't even know there were such things)...just a taped course that I had paid $395 for a year earlier (which had caused nothing to happen until my “want to” caught up with my “must do.”
YOU WROTE:: I also had no one that I could borrow money from,
Really? I thought sure that I had loaned you $1,995.00 with no repayment obligation. That is the price everyone else pays for a network membership. You could have made a copy of your free Success Pack and sold the original on E-Bay (You’d a been sued big time, but so what? You were broke).
YOU WROTE:: and yes, I tried.
And that’s supposed to get the job done? All losers in this business will tell you they "tried." It's not "trying" that creates Success, its "doing and failing, then doing again and again" no matter how dark it may seem outside: that's what Success is. If you want it any other way, call Regis Philbin…or that obnoxious British Ding-Dong.
YOU WROTE:: And, no offense, but I had to choose, put an ad in the paper, or eat. The choice was obvious at the time. An add MIGHT get me money in a few weeks, or months. The food was survival, now.
No offense taken, but the choice was NOT obvious. That's why you made the wrong one at the time. It doesn't cost much to make some local phone calls and draw up some hand made posters and nail them to a tree or stake them into the ground.
YOU WROTE:: I am also sorry that you are going to miss out on me being your poster boy, because I would make a good one, and I would have shouted to the hilltops, and posted everywhere, those who helped me get there.
Now THAT'S where the offense could be taken. Why should I miss out on anything? If you succeed because of my course and my website and my documents and my system (after-all, you said the others were worthless), why shouldn’t you shout it from "hilltops"? Sounds like inverted coercion to me: "Too bad Bill, but if you’ve chosen not to do what I want, you'll suffer for it...I'm warning you!”
And…"Would have"...??? You mean now you won't? Even though I gave you a $1,995.00 head start and, even now, the opportunity to write to me anytime you feel like it (this letter alone will take well over three hours of my time). Care to adjust that statement a bit? Sounds like "Wimp Corners" to me...you sure you want to live there?
YOU WROTE:: And, once I do, I will thank you for sending me the package.
Really? But no thanks until you succeed? Isn't that like saying I will thank you for trying to save me from choking with you Heimlich maneuver IF my ribs ever heal up? Naw...you didn't mean it that way, did you? Look how subliminally you're trying to blame me (and the authors of those “other” courses) for your failure before you are even confronted with it: "If I don't succeed, Bill, you'll get no accolades from me...and that's a threat! Your course had better start the manna dropping from Heaven, or else!"
YOU WROTE:: I truly hope that going through the package again will give me what I need to succeed.
And if it doesn't? What? You will demand your money back?
And, why should it work “this time” if it didn’t work before? And if you think going through it twice--a year apart--will “do anything,” you’ve got another think coming. You should go through it at least ten times if you mean any of what you are saying about your intentions. The course that got me started was 14 hours of tapes (Paul Simon on Equity sharing), which I listened to, at least 20 times…until I had them virtually memorized (my tape course is 9 hours at most).
Throck, ol’ buddy, "hoping" to do something and knowing for sure that it will be done are two different things. Eliminate these terms from your work life: "wish" "hope" "faith" "may" "Maybe" "possibly" "God willing" "would'a" "could'a" should'a"... and do it all yourself! All those terms infer that someone else is in charge of your destiny...and that's definitely not true! "Hope" is the murderer of "Certainty." ‘Your call.
YOU WROTE:: The only problem I have is what the past has shown.
Now I don't know what the Hell that is supposed to mean: but understand once and for all that the verbs "is" and "has" don't EVER belong together. The past is finished: the present and the future are 100% yours to control. Period! It’s your brain and your body and your mind...no one else is there. If you have a "problem" it’s because you're creating it and enabling it. You REALLY are trying to block your way (...and no, I didn't misunderstand your comment…I just see its meaning more clearly than you do).
YOU WROTE:: I have read through MANY real estate courses, and followed
what they said, and nothing happened.
“Read through?” Is that like “Studying diligently day in and day out for weeks”? ”No “offense, Mr. Glunk, but I hereby declare under penalty of perjury and unjustified insult that you DID NOT study them thoroughly and follow what they said. If you had you'd at least have some bad properties on your hands. It is impossible to do what the worst CRE course say to do and not end up with results. It's not the courses that beat you; it’s your reliance on them to "make something happen" after skimming them. With the very best course in the world...nothing is supposed to happen because of the material! What "happens" is that which occurs when you make the unwavering decision to accomplish your objectives no matter what...the courses you're referring to (blaming for your failure) are only suggested shortcuts. Your success depends solely upon your goals, your plan of action, your honest aspirations, your self-confidence, your balls and the complete certainly of your success! Hoping and wishing and “trying” won’t cut it.
YOU WROTE:: The problem is, when you run up against a wall, there is no one to ask what to do.
Really? What a pity! I doubt your world is really such a lonely place, Throckmorton. What about your next-door neighbor, your father, your uncle, your wife, the guy at the bank, the guy who owns the rental property down the street? What about the myriad creative real estate discussion boards, the people you bought those other courses from? And furthermore, have I ever failed to respond to one of your an E-mails? Hell no! That's Wimp Corners again, and I venture to guess that you're just looking for another excuse for unrequited desires and your not having to be blamed for your anticipated (and thus, ‘planned-out’) failures. Stop it! Desires become assets only after they've become absolute necessities. The Greeks won the Peloponnesian War only after they burned the ships that brought them there to fight: it was success or death…no “trying” and hoping..
Desire>Necessity>Goal>Plan>Unwavering Determination>Asset>Profit>Wealth (I'd laminate that for my wallet if I were you).
I know, I know, that one pissed you off. So what? I once had a doctor set my freshly broken ankle (17 fractured bones) after a sky diving accident by jerking on it with all his might. I truly hated the SOB at the time, and told him so with expletives I didn't know I knew. I’d’ a punched his lights out if I hadn’t spent all my energy in screaming. 'Still ticks me off a little when I think about it: but had he not done that for me I'd be in a wheel chair today.
YOU WROTE:: I know I can post [on www.landtrust.net], but, unfortunately, sometimes you need an immediate response.
More Wimp Corners B.S. and an attempt to justify your presupposed failure when (in your present mental plan) it surely comes. If you plan well and know for sure that you won't fail, why would you think you had to rely on someone else's immediate response? What you're saying is that you're afraid of taking your own risks and facing Failure, so you want someone else to tell you what to do and run interference for you. All the answers you'll ever need are in those worthless courses you say you pored over so diligently.
Trust your parachute, Throcky, and the worst that will likely happen is a broken ankle...or two.
YOU WROTE:: I just hope that does not happen until I get things going.
You poor soul...the world is really dumping on you, isn't it? Hey!! Get out of that bullshit and sit down right this minute and write out your goals and your plan of action...you can't buy a ticket just because you want to go somewhere...you have to be specific about where you want to go and the mode of transportation or you'll be checking out ticket counters this time next year...and the year after.
BTW, Throcko, the attachment here is a chapter from my upcoming new book, which will be revised and wholly re-written within a few weeks: but for the time-being (barring the typos and errors) it may be of some help to you.
Throckmorton Glunk, stand up right now and grab onto your huevos and shout: "Let's go guys...it's completely up to us now, and from this point on, we WILL accept only success! Nothing less! And we know exactly how it’s going to come about! We're immediately doing ALL the following things with unwavering, burning desire and intent:
1. __________________
2. __________________
3. __________________
4. __________________
5. __________________
6. __________________
7. __________________
8. __________________
9. __________________
10. __________________
Best wishes,
Bill Gatten
To find out more about Landtrust and Equity Transfers Using Landtrust, Click Here.
-0-
ANOTHER BUTT KICKING
by bill gatten
A year ago I offered “The Challenge” to a gentleman we’ll Call Throckmorton Glunk. After about two weeks I didn’t hear from him until a week ago. Our deal was that if he did 100% of everything I said to do, without question or hesitation, and report to me weekly, we’d make him a Network Member for free (We don’t do dat no more due to the “It’s Worth What You Pay For It” philosophy).
A week ago he said he was back on the job after some personal mishaps and was ready to get started. Our discourse follows.
> Throckmorton,
>
> We get one shot at these things! You were to have been my poster boy, and then you > > dropped the ball on me. No hard feelings, and I'm wishing you the very best of >everything, but now you're on your own...you'll be a network member once you've >gotten your stride and your confidence and enough cash in the bank to join up with us >(and you'll be VERY welcome when you do).
THE REJOINDER:
You wrote:: Ok, I guess I will be posting a lot then. I am truly sorry if you see what happened as me dropping the ball. I guess we have totally different points of view on the subject. I was, in no way, in a position to pursue this until now. As I said, I had no job and $0 (ZERO Money). I also had no one that I could borrow money from, and yes, I tried. I don't know if you have ever been there, but it is not a fun position. And, no offense, but I had to choose, put an ad in the paper, or eat. The choice was obvious at the time. An add MIGHT get me money in a few weeks, or months. The food was survival, now.
:I am also sorry that you are going to miss out on me being your poster boy, because I would make a good one, and I would have shouted to the hilltops, and posted everywhere, those who helped me get there. I know with the right direction, I can succeed at anything. And, once I do, I will thank you for sending me the package. I truly hope that going through the package again will give me what I need to succeed. The only problem I have is what the past has shown. As I stated in my first letter to you, I have
read through MANY real estate courses, and followed what they said, and nothing happened. The problem is, when you run up against a wall, there is no one to ask what to do. I know I can post, but, unfortunately, sometimes you need an immediate response. I just hope that does not happen until I get things going.
Thanks,
Sincerely,
Throckmorton Glunk
P.S. Please don't get me wrong, I am in no way mad at you for your decision, just disappointed. I truly believed you would understand my situation, and realize that I was getting on the stick as fast as I possibly could. Thanks again.
MY REPLY:
Throckmorton,
Let's analyze your most recent letter to me and see if there's an attitude adjustment in order (for the good of your future success). It'll be your choice...your success is none of my business: though I am most in favor of it coming.
YOU WROTE:: Ok, I guess I will be posting a lot then.
And...? Why wouldn't you be posting a lot anyway?
YOU WROTE:: I am truly sorry if you see what happened as me dropping the ball. I guess we have totally different points of view on the subject.
Are you saying you DIDN'T drop the ball? That would mean then that I did. There are only the two of us here. How can our respective points of view vary in any way? Whatever your reasons were, I had nothing to do with your decisions to "drop the ball." If I'm playing basketball and on my way to a slam dunk I suddenly discover my shorts are on fire, I have to choose whether to complete the shot or immerse my rear end in a bucket of water...but I'm not going to tell the coach that we differ in our opinions as to why I had to drop the ball. I'll simply trust that he’ll take me out of the game, understand my reasons and be disappointed that I didn't choose to finish the shot instead. Later though I might look back and say, "Damn that would ‘a been a dynamite shot if I'd just hung for another 10 seconds...especially with my ass on fire!"
YOU WROTE:: As I said, I had no job and $0 (ZERO Money).
In 1989 I had no job an zero money, as well, and in order to put bread on the table I had to figure out a way to buy valuable assets with no money, no credit and no time (I was too lazy to get a job) ...I immediately started making local phone calls on people who had stuff of value they didn't want anymore and which I knew I could sell quickly for cash (houses and condos). No one told me that I couldn't do it...and I saw it as my way out of the darkness...and I didn't have a mentor ('didn't even know there were such things)...just a taped course that I had paid $395 for a year earlier (which had caused nothing to happen until my “want to” caught up with my “must do.”
YOU WROTE:: I also had no one that I could borrow money from,
Really? I thought sure that I had loaned you $1,995.00 with no repayment obligation. That is the price everyone else pays for a network membership. You could have made a copy of your free Success Pack and sold the original on E-Bay (You’d a been sued big time, but so what? You were broke).
YOU WROTE:: and yes, I tried.
And that’s supposed to get the job done? All losers in this business will tell you they "tried." It's not "trying" that creates Success, its "doing and failing, then doing again and again" no matter how dark it may seem outside: that's what Success is. If you want it any other way, call Regis Philbin…or that obnoxious British Ding-Dong.
YOU WROTE:: And, no offense, but I had to choose, put an ad in the paper, or eat. The choice was obvious at the time. An add MIGHT get me money in a few weeks, or months. The food was survival, now.
No offense taken, but the choice was NOT obvious. That's why you made the wrong one at the time. It doesn't cost much to make some local phone calls and draw up some hand made posters and nail them to a tree or stake them into the ground.
YOU WROTE:: I am also sorry that you are going to miss out on me being your poster boy, because I would make a good one, and I would have shouted to the hilltops, and posted everywhere, those who helped me get there.
Now THAT'S where the offense could be taken. Why should I miss out on anything? If you succeed because of my course and my website and my documents and my system (after-all, you said the others were worthless), why shouldn’t you shout it from "hilltops"? Sounds like inverted coercion to me: "Too bad Bill, but if you’ve chosen not to do what I want, you'll suffer for it...I'm warning you!”
And…"Would have"...??? You mean now you won't? Even though I gave you a $1,995.00 head start and, even now, the opportunity to write to me anytime you feel like it (this letter alone will take well over three hours of my time). Care to adjust that statement a bit? Sounds like "Wimp Corners" to me...you sure you want to live there?
YOU WROTE:: And, once I do, I will thank you for sending me the package.
Really? But no thanks until you succeed? Isn't that like saying I will thank you for trying to save me from choking with you Heimlich maneuver IF my ribs ever heal up? Naw...you didn't mean it that way, did you? Look how subliminally you're trying to blame me (and the authors of those “other” courses) for your failure before you are even confronted with it: "If I don't succeed, Bill, you'll get no accolades from me...and that's a threat! Your course had better start the manna dropping from Heaven, or else!"
YOU WROTE:: I truly hope that going through the package again will give me what I need to succeed.
And if it doesn't? What? You will demand your money back?
And, why should it work “this time” if it didn’t work before? And if you think going through it twice--a year apart--will “do anything,” you’ve got another think coming. You should go through it at least ten times if you mean any of what you are saying about your intentions. The course that got me started was 14 hours of tapes (Paul Simon on Equity sharing), which I listened to, at least 20 times…until I had them virtually memorized (my tape course is 9 hours at most).
Throck, ol’ buddy, "hoping" to do something and knowing for sure that it will be done are two different things. Eliminate these terms from your work life: "wish" "hope" "faith" "may" "Maybe" "possibly" "God willing" "would'a" "could'a" should'a"... and do it all yourself! All those terms infer that someone else is in charge of your destiny...and that's definitely not true! "Hope" is the murderer of "Certainty." ‘Your call.
YOU WROTE:: The only problem I have is what the past has shown.
Now I don't know what the Hell that is supposed to mean: but understand once and for all that the verbs "is" and "has" don't EVER belong together. The past is finished: the present and the future are 100% yours to control. Period! It’s your brain and your body and your mind...no one else is there. If you have a "problem" it’s because you're creating it and enabling it. You REALLY are trying to block your way (...and no, I didn't misunderstand your comment…I just see its meaning more clearly than you do).
YOU WROTE:: I have read through MANY real estate courses, and followed
what they said, and nothing happened.
“Read through?” Is that like “Studying diligently day in and day out for weeks”? ”No “offense, Mr. Glunk, but I hereby declare under penalty of perjury and unjustified insult that you DID NOT study them thoroughly and follow what they said. If you had you'd at least have some bad properties on your hands. It is impossible to do what the worst CRE course say to do and not end up with results. It's not the courses that beat you; it’s your reliance on them to "make something happen" after skimming them. With the very best course in the world...nothing is supposed to happen because of the material! What "happens" is that which occurs when you make the unwavering decision to accomplish your objectives no matter what...the courses you're referring to (blaming for your failure) are only suggested shortcuts. Your success depends solely upon your goals, your plan of action, your honest aspirations, your self-confidence, your balls and the complete certainly of your success! Hoping and wishing and “trying” won’t cut it.
YOU WROTE:: The problem is, when you run up against a wall, there is no one to ask what to do.
Really? What a pity! I doubt your world is really such a lonely place, Throckmorton. What about your next-door neighbor, your father, your uncle, your wife, the guy at the bank, the guy who owns the rental property down the street? What about the myriad creative real estate discussion boards, the people you bought those other courses from? And furthermore, have I ever failed to respond to one of your an E-mails? Hell no! That's Wimp Corners again, and I venture to guess that you're just looking for another excuse for unrequited desires and your not having to be blamed for your anticipated (and thus, ‘planned-out’) failures. Stop it! Desires become assets only after they've become absolute necessities. The Greeks won the Peloponnesian War only after they burned the ships that brought them there to fight: it was success or death…no “trying” and hoping..
Desire>Necessity>Goal>Plan>Unwavering Determination>Asset>Profit>Wealth (I'd laminate that for my wallet if I were you).
I know, I know, that one pissed you off. So what? I once had a doctor set my freshly broken ankle (17 fractured bones) after a sky diving accident by jerking on it with all his might. I truly hated the SOB at the time, and told him so with expletives I didn't know I knew. I’d’ a punched his lights out if I hadn’t spent all my energy in screaming. 'Still ticks me off a little when I think about it: but had he not done that for me I'd be in a wheel chair today.
YOU WROTE:: I know I can post [on www.landtrust.net], but, unfortunately, sometimes you need an immediate response.
More Wimp Corners B.S. and an attempt to justify your presupposed failure when (in your present mental plan) it surely comes. If you plan well and know for sure that you won't fail, why would you think you had to rely on someone else's immediate response? What you're saying is that you're afraid of taking your own risks and facing Failure, so you want someone else to tell you what to do and run interference for you. All the answers you'll ever need are in those worthless courses you say you pored over so diligently.
Trust your parachute, Throcky, and the worst that will likely happen is a broken ankle...or two.
YOU WROTE:: I just hope that does not happen until I get things going.
You poor soul...the world is really dumping on you, isn't it? Hey!! Get out of that bullshit and sit down right this minute and write out your goals and your plan of action...you can't buy a ticket just because you want to go somewhere...you have to be specific about where you want to go and the mode of transportation or you'll be checking out ticket counters this time next year...and the year after.
BTW, Throcko, the attachment here is a chapter from my upcoming new book, which will be revised and wholly re-written within a few weeks: but for the time-being (barring the typos and errors) it may be of some help to you.
Throckmorton Glunk, stand up right now and grab onto your huevos and shout: "Let's go guys...it's completely up to us now, and from this point on, we WILL accept only success! Nothing less! And we know exactly how it’s going to come about! We're immediately doing ALL the following things with unwavering, burning desire and intent:
1. __________________
2. __________________
3. __________________
4. __________________
5. __________________
6. __________________
7. __________________
8. __________________
9. __________________
10. __________________
Best wishes,
Bill Gatten
To find out more about Landtrust and Equity Transfers Using Landtrust, Click Here.
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