Imagine you’re Ronald Reagan when he was 65 years old. You have just dedicated the last 20 years of your life implementing a policy of political leadership you hope will help your country and the world. All of your efforts to touch hearts and garner support comes down to a single vote at the national convention in 1976. The vote is 1,187 to 1,070 … and you lose.

Losing the primary at 65

Reagan had just lost the convention vote to be the presidential nominee to Gerald Ford. Reagan was 65 years old and had the financial security to retire in style. He had a large family, lots of friends, good health and many interests. He loved to spend time on his beautiful Rancho del Cielo in California, riding horses and working chores.  Ronald Reagan must have been tempted to ride off into the sunset and spend the rest of his days in well-earned retirement. Instead, he summoned the energy to put forth yet another campaign, and 4 years later became the oldest person elected President of the United States of America. Why did he keep leading? And why should we?

Why did he keep leading? And why should we?

Why should we put forth the effort to:

• Establish one more relationship,
• Begin one more project, or
• Create one more company?

For Reagan, he was motivated by the notion of fulfilling the reason he was put on earth. In May of 1988 at Moscow State University he said, “Freedom is the recognition that no single person, no single authority or government has a monopoly on truth, but that every individual life is infinitely precious, that every one of us put on this world has been put there for a reason and has something to offer.”

Reagan believed that we make a living by what we get – and a life by what we give. And he respected those who served others. Both he and Mother Theresa were 74 years old when he presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. At the White House in 1985, he said, “This is the first time I’ve given the Medal of Freedom with the intuition that the recipient might take it home, melt it down and turn it into something that can be sold to help the poor.” Mother Theresa would go on to live another 12 years, accomplishing incredible things throughout the world.

Smile when they say you’re too old to lead

At the Annual Salute to Congress Dinner in February 1981, Reagan said, “One of my favorite quotes from Thomas Jefferson is when he said, ‘We should never judge a president by his age, but by his acts.’ And ever since he told me that…”   By poking fun at his own age, he was poking fun in general, at our notion of age.

Smile when they say you’re too young.

Reagan did not associate maturity with age. At his commencement address to the young college graduates at Eureka College in 1982, he said, “Maturity is a matter of becoming comfortable with yourself, with the world around you, as time moves on and circumstances change.” Despite his very humble beginnings, Reagan was tremendously successful in his early twenties, becoming one of the top sports announcers in the country for college football and major league baseball.

Poking fun at 75

Reagan liked to poke fun of his age, as he did on his birthday in 1986: “I did turn seventy-five today, but remember, that’s only twenty-four Celsius.”

And when he signed into law the Alternative Motor Fuels Act of 1988 Reagan said, “This bill is a landmark in the quest for alternative forms of energy. And believe me, when you’re my age, you just love hearing about alternative sources of energy.”

Contrary to his own self-efacing humor, Reagan had an enormous amount of energy. Many people half his age were unable to keep up with his physical regimen. Contrary to media reports, Reagan never felt the need for taking naps. (On a side note, also contrary to media reports, Reagan never wore makeup – even during his acting days.) But he did stay physically active each day, whether doing physical work-outs in the White House or working hard at his ranch.

In his 70’s Ronald Reagan seemed a young man, both physically and mentally. And, when the matter of age came up, he promised not to make a campaign issue out of his opponent’s youth and inexperience. After that, nobody else did either.

Leadership is for kids from one to ninety two

Into his late 70s, Ronald Reagan remained one of the greatest leaders of the 20th Century. So, if you are someone who legendary singer Nat King Cole described as a kid from one to ninety two, it’s time for you to remain one of the greatest leaders of the 21st Century!

For more of my articles on President Reagan, click here.    

The post Leadership is for Kids From One to Ninety Two appeared first on Walking and Talking.

Grisham isn’t losing any sleep over this, but the story goes like this …

When Danny Bedford, a firefighter and father of three young children, dies in a house fire while trying to rescue a baby trapped in the inferno, his ten year old son, Bally, comes to resent his father’s decision to take ‘too great of a risk’, and vows to always protect his siblings.

30 years later, Bally is a college sports legend and hometown hero. But disaster strikes his newest real estate development, The Neighborhood at Bedford Falls. Suddenly, Bally’s personal fortune and the careers of his entire family are put on the verge of collapse.

When a prayer is answered with a booming clap of thunder in Downtown Columbus, a sinister betrayal is revealed that will alter the Bedford family’s future for generations to come, and a kid on a bike must make the decision of his life.

A contemptible newspaper columnist, fair-weather allies, and the person who sabotaged The Neighborhood at Bedford Falls, all conspire to bring Bally to the brink of ruin.

That’s when Bally and his wife, Emily, retreat to the old neighborhood, where they learn new details about the shocking impact of Danny Bedford’s fall 30 years ago.

Their son Ryan, a renaissance priest, a beautiful violinist, and Tomorrow’s Cowboy, all have roles to play, if the Bedford family is to survive.

If you like stories of seemingly unconnected characters making huge impacts on the dreams of others, you might like this book.

Heroes are everywhere. But will Bally know where to look … when Bedford Falls?

Many of you, in real estate related fields …

might recognize yourself in some of the good characters of the book. Be confident, however, that all of the villains are purely made-up imaginations!

To learn more about Bedford Falls, visit Amazon.

The post Can We Learn from Reading Fiction? appeared first on Walking and Talking.

The main reason for owning multifamily property has changed …

Until recently, the top 4 reasons for buying apartments were:

• Cash Flow
• Appreciation
• Principle Reduction
• Tax Deferral

These reasons have flipped in order. Now, they are:

• Appreciation
• Principle Reduction
• Tax Deferral
• Cash Flow (if there is any?!)

The new, overiding motivation for owning real estate is Equity Preservation!

Why the change? One reason … Artificiality

Multifamily investors know that they can borrow money at the artificially low fixed rate of 5.75%. Simultaneously, current artificial market conditions:

• Entice students into suffocating debt,
• Pile unnecessary regulation costs onto small business owners,
• Permit tenants to be surcharged on their monthly utility bills,
• Increase multifamily property taxes beyond the rate of inflation.
• Increase medical costs for their younger tenants.

Multifamily owners see firsthand that real inflation is higher than the rate of their borrowed funds.

Therefore, large apartment owners continue to buy more apartments and lock in on a low 10-year rate, hoping that the ever-increasing costs of building new properties will indirectly pump up the market value of their existing real estate.

Experts continue to  insist that inflation is not a problem. But does that really matter when your customers:

• Pay water bills that are surcharged by companies they never knew existed?
• See the filet mignon on their dinner menu is now priced at $79.00,
• Pay $5,00 per gallon for gasoline.
• Spend more money for less at their local grocery store,
• Are straddled with a seemingly never-ending $300 monthly payment just to pay off their degree in economics?

They look around and see hands-on evidence of real inflation:

From Builders: Over the last 4 years, builders of newly-built apartments have seen firsthand that the combined cost of bringing a new property online (land, zoning costs, impact fees, labor, lumber, asphalt, carpeting, paint, concrete, plumbing, electrical), has increased well upwards of 15% from year to year.

From Our School Administrators: Every election season, school administrators explain to us that the cost of educating our kids far exceeds the rate of inflation. In turn, apartment owners increase rents just to stay even with the sharp increases in property taxes.

In News Reports: Recently, data from real estate analyst RealtyTrac, reported by Columbus Business First, revealed that single family home prices in Columbus, Ohio increased 12.5% in the last 2 years, nine times faster than did wages in the same period of time.

Sticks and Bricks or Stocks and Bonds?

Investors have to do something with their money. If they buy apartments at today’s inflated prices, they do not expect much cash flow. But, many fear that the artificiality of ‘quantitative easing’ has propped up the value of the stock market beyond legitimate levels. They wonder if quantitative easing can go on forever.

So, they ask themselves …

Where is the best place to PRESERVE MY EQUITY?

If my costs are actually increasing at, say 10-15% per year, the buying power of my current equity will be reduced by roughly half over the next 7 years. This, of course, is unacceptable. So, where can I preserve the value of my equity?

• In the bank? Will one-quarter of 1% keep pace with inflation of 10%?
• In the stock market? Is it due for a major ‘correction’?
• Sticks and bricks? Will real estate keep pace with inflation?
• Gold and silver? What’s that all about?

Then they ask themselves, “What is within my control?”

• Rising costs and expenses? No.
• The Fed’s policy on quantitative easing? No.
• The rental/leasing market? No, not really.
• The stock market? No
• The overall economy? No
• The price of gold and silver? No
• The fixed interest rate I can lock into for the next 10 years? Yes!

The ONE thing they control …

The one significant and substantial thing they have airtight control over is their 10 year fixed rate! It transcends time! 10 years is an eternity in this market! The 10-year rate is their only market certainty. So, they are forging ahead and are buying the sticks and bricks!

Developers flip the properties as soon as they can!

Make no mistake. Local builders have little interest in keeping these apartments. They know that, in every direction, these conditions are artificial. They realize their local market is being flooded with new apartments. If not for the artificially low, long-term interest rates, they would never build apartments in such high numbers.

Why? Because their customer base is artificially influenced.

The artificiality of lending $40,000 – $80,000 to an unemployed student has increased tuition costs and has created a pool of college graduates, so saddled with debt, that most will not qualify as first-time homebuyers, anytime soon.

Millenials, however, are tired of living with their parents (or their parents are tired of them living with their parents!). This explains why builders are flooding the market with thousands of brand new apartments in Columbus (over 12,000 in the hopper!). Builders fill them with young, transient, overextended tenants who will find a roommate and rent a nice place to live for $1,400/month.

Local developers oftentimes sell immediately after the last tenant takes advantage of the attractive lease-up concessions. They sell at premium prices to investors who have access to artificially cheap funding.

The large investors stand in line to gobble them up!

Investors wait in line to purchase the apartments at historically low cap rates. Auctions of apartment communties go to the highest bidder. Their buyer’s low interest rate is fixed. Where else can they hedge their money against inflation?

Why are investors buying apartments in today’s artificial market?

EQUITY PRESERVATION!

____________________________________________________________________________________

Part II: Who will be the winners and losers in this artificial real estate market? 

My next post will predict the future winners and losers in this artificial real estate market. To subscribe to my blog posts, and to receive a free copy of my eBook, Single Page Life Plan, click here.

Here are some other posts you might find interesting:

Single Page Checklist for Buying Apartments: My book, Single Page Life Plan explains how you can extend single page planning to all of your important projects and ventures. Single Page Checklists are a ‘catch-all’ for special projects that you can review regularly to stay focused.

Podcast: What is a Cap Rate? Cap Rates. You hear about them all the time, from people who specialize in investment real estate. They’ll says things like, “That property sold for a 6 cap,” or, “We’re looking for properties priced in the 9 to 10 cap range.” Today’s Walking and Talking podcast is all about Cap Rates!

I Wish I Had Smoked More Cigarettes. When I speak to 8th grade students, freshman, and sophomores, I make them this promise: Nobody ever looks back on their high school or college years and says …

Where is Your Rancho del Cielo? He called it his “Cathedral in the Sky” (Rancho del Cielo is Spanish for Sky’s Ranch, or Heaven’s Ranch). It is where President Reagan could sort out problems while riding his favorite seventeen-hands-high thoroughbred for hours at a time. He could enjoy Mother Nature in all her glory.

The post Why Investors Buy Apartments in Today’s Artificial Market appeared first on Walking and Talking.

Walking and Talking … Cap Rates!

Cap Rates. You hear about them all the time, from people who specialize in investment real estate. They’ll says things like:

• “That property sold for a 6 cap,” or,
• “We’re looking for properties priced in the 9 to 10 cap range.”

What is a Cap Rate?

Simply put, a Cap Rate (capitalization rate) equals the Net Operating Income of a property, divided by Purchase Price:

Cap Rate = Net Operating Income ÷ Purchase Price

Net Operating Income for an apartment property is basically all of the income that is collected from the property, such as:

• Rental Income
• Pet fees
• Water income
• etc.

Less any expenses that you would incur on the property, such as:

• Taxes/Insurance
• Lawn/Snow/Trash
• Replacement of appliances, HVAC, etc.
• Painting/Cleaning
• etc.

What remains is your Net Operating Income (NOI).

Cap Rates speak to the price of the property in relation to the NOI it generates.

NOI/Purchase Price equals your Cap Rate

Examples at an NOI of $10,000:

If a property:

• is generating $10,000 per year, and
• you wish to sell it for $100,000.
• You are seeking a 10 cap.

That’s easy enough to calculate in your head, right? $10,000 (NOI)/$100,000 (Purchase Price) = 10 Cap.

If , however, you are only sell the property for $90,000, then your property aols at an 11.1 cap rate:

• $10,000 (NOI)/$90,000 (Purchase Price) = 11.1 Cap.

Now, imagine your property sells above asking price. Say, $111,000. Then the property transferred at a 9 cap:

• $10,000 (NOI)/$111,000 (Purchase Price) = 9 Cap

The higher the price, the lower the cap rate. Once NOI is determined, it is a fixed number (in this case, $10,000), because that is simply the NOI being generated from the property each year. Only the purchase price changes.

Why so many people are often confused about cap rates

The main reason people are often confused, is they forget that Annual Debt Service is not an expense.

• Annual Debt Service (ADS) has nothing to do with calculating a cap rate!
• Cap Rates don’t care if you borrow money against the property or not.
•  Cap rates only care about the relationship between NOI and purchase price.

Here is one way I look at it:

You take $100,000 to your local bank and they pay you an interest rate of 1% – To me, you just invested your money at a 1 cap. If you take that same $100,000 and buy a couple of apartments that are netting you $5,000 each year in cash flow, then you have invested your money at a 5 cap.

The best way to always remember what is a cap rate

Assume you are always paying all cash for the property!

Now of course, you rarely will – but to determine the cap rate, ask yourself, “If I paid all cash for this property, what would be my annual return?” If you buy a property all cash for $100,000 and the NOI is $7,500 per year; you just bought that property at a 7.5 cap rate!

Conversely, if a property is generating $12,000 each year, and you will only pay a price that gives you a 6 cap, then be ready to pay $200,000 for that property ($12,000 NOI/$200,000 (Purchase Price) = 6 Cap.

In the last example, the Cash on Cash Return percent will also be 6. That’s because, when you pay all cash for real estate, your Cap Rate is the same as your Cash on Cash Return.

5 major factors that indirectly impact cap rates

1. Interest rates:

The lower the interest rate a person can use to leverage his or her purchase, the lower the cap rate that person will typically pay for the property. That is because they are looking for positive leverage.

For instance, for investment property, many investors like to borrow their funds at a lower rate than the cap rate they are buying at. If they buy a property at an 8 Cap, they want to finance the property at a 6-6.5% interest rate.

This results in a positive Cash on Cash Return. The larger that spread between the cap rate they are paying, and the interest rate they are borrowing at, the more positive cash flow they make.

If interest rates increase to a number higher than the cap rates being paid in the marketplace, then negative cash flow is created, and few people want to buy real estate at a negative cash flow.

2. Quality of the property:

Buyers are willing to pay lower cap rates for a property if they believe that it will appreciate in value, continue to stay rented, garner increases in rental rates, physically stand up over a long period of time, and be relatively easy to manage.

3. Supply and Demand:

Not all investors purchase strictly for economic reasons. For the owner-occupied retailor, doctor, or office tenant, who believes they must be in a certain area for their business to prosper, the value of the building might become secondary – at which point limited supply in a particular area might drive down cap rates.

4. Like Kind Exchange Activity:

When there is a great deal of selling activity in a particular market, the desire to defer capital gains taxes often results in a flurry of buying activity that drives down the cap rate.

 5. Alternative Investments:

When competing investment rates, either from banks, the stock market, or pension funds, goes down, investors more easily rationalize accepting a lower cap rate when buying investment real estate.

Remember, not all cap rates are created equal!

Be careful when negotiating a deal where everyone is throwing around the term ‘cap rate’. When someone says, for instance, “All I am asking for my property is an 8 cap? That’s fair, don’t you think?” My first thought is to find out how that person arrived at their NOI number?

• Have they inflated income to reflect street rents, or are they using actual rents that they collected over the last 12 months?
• Did they include a property management fee in their expenses ? A very popular comment you will hear is,”Oh, we just manage it ourselves, so we didn’t put in a management fee expense.” But what if I decide to hire a management company to run these apartments for me. I will have that expense!
• If I am buying the apartments in partnership with other people, I might simply want to be compensated for my managerial efforts.

There here are dozens of ways to arrive at an NOI figure. Their way of calculating NOI is oftentimes different than yours or mine. And, even if do they calculate it the same way we do, there are expenses that we will have as the new owners, that they don’t have. For instance, our tax rate will be based upon the new transfer price, which might be higher than the assessed value currently being used to determine the property taxes.

The Cap Rate, and other ratios used to determine market value of property, can be found in my 6 page laminated flyer titled, Understanding the Fundamentals of Multifamily Property which will soon be made available at my site, www.GarrettScanlon.com

The post What is a Cap Rate? appeared first on Walking and Talking.

Any author, screenwriter, or playwright will tell you that every story needs a hero. The hero is on a journey. Then, a crisis occurs; an enormous threat or challenge that the hero must defeat or overcome. Out of a cast of characters, emerges a guide; an ally that comes alongside to help the hero. There are always high stakes and a call to action resulting in a climatic outcome, which always ends in failure or success.

For a story to resonate with us, it must always have these elements. Because, well, that’s life!

• A Hero
• A Journey
• A Crisis
• A Guide
• High Stakes
• A Call to Action
• A Climactic Outcome

In this true-life story, you are the hero.

You might not think you’re a hero, because heroes do not always feel particularly heroic during their high school years. They haven’t even identified all of their super-powers yet! But, they do have super-powers. You do too. The problem is, those powers don’t always apply to what is important to you right now.

Some of your greatest skills and abilities that will help you become a great novelist, or entrepreneur, or firefighter, or nurse, or teacher, or Army Ranger, or songwriter are usually unrelated to scoring touchdowns or starring in the school play. You probably don’t want anyone telling you, “Don’t worry about that. Your day will come.” But what William Shakespeare wrote is very true: “We know what we are, but not what we may be.”

The Hero: Regardless of any limitations or challenges you have, you are truly designed for greatness. It is your birthright to dream heroic dreams.

The Journey: You are on a crucial journey in high school, with a cast of characters that includes new friends, new teachers, and new coaches. You have to juggle a changing physiology, peer pressure, and the emotional swings that occur when you ace a big test one day and get cut from the soccer team the next.

The Crisis/Threat: A storm is coming. A storm that can leave behind a path of incredible destruction. The single biggest threat to you living a powerful life is you making a bad decision regarding drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.

The Guides: Your parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles are your guides! If you are Rocky Balboa, then they are your trusted fight-trainer, Mickey, who prepared him to survive all 15 rounds. Think about it. They are the ones who are truly in your corner, rooting for you to triumph all 4 years!

The High Stakes: At stake is a loss of respect, DWI’s/DUI’s/OWI’s, lawyer fees, suffering grades, loss of car privileges, addiction, and a risk that your siblings will follow suit.

The Call-to-Action: The Just Say No Promise Agreement that spells out the terms and conditions required for you to defeat the threat and receive some added incentives along the way!

This Story’s Climatic Outcome: Rewards begin immediately and victory comes at graduation when you, the hero, shake hands with your guides on a job well done. Like all heroes, you will fulfill the best version of yourself, and your greatest reward will the strong example you give your siblings to follow.

The stakes are high. We root for the hero. We root for you!

Are you up for the challenge?

The post Every Story Needs a Hero appeared first on Walking and Talking.

I will never forget the day I learned my first lesson in commercial real estate. It came shortly after I joined a team of 25 brokers at Coldwell Banker Commercial Real Estate. They ultimately became a who’s who of Columbus real estate that included Richard Schuen, Ed Joseph, John Hall, Don Matsanoff, Greg Schenk, Chuck Manofsky, Doug Goddard, Ted Hobson, Bob Matias, Benton Benalcazar and several others.

The Day I Learned About Walking and Talking

One of those brokers was Wayne Harer. Wayne played 10 years of minor league baseball for the Red Sox and Yankee organizations and actually won theAAA Batting Crown one year. Unfortunately for Wayne, that was not enough to dethrone American League MVPs Freddie Lynn and Jim Rice, or Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski from their spots on the roster.

I considered Wayne a ‘veteran’ commercial broker because he had all of 2 years of experience leasing downtown office space. One day as he was walking through the lobby, I called out, “Hey Wayne, do you have a couple of minutes?”

“Walk with me, talk with me!” he said as he got on the elevator.

“What?”

“C’mon Scan. Walk with me, talk with me. Let’s go!”

Being new in the business, I jumped at the invite. Not only was Wayne a successful broker, he was the only guy I knew who had his own baseball card!

A 2-hour walking and talking tour of downtown Columbus.

I spent the next 2 hours tagging along with Wayne as he conducted business downtown. He visited a dozen offices, dropping off brochures, talking with tenants and owners. A business card handed out here, a “Howyabeen” there. We took elevators and escalators; we cut across parking lots and through retail stores. I kept asking Wayne real estate questions. Wayne kept walking and talking.

Five miles later, it was obvious that Wayne knew every floor of every downtown building, every owner, and every tenant. He knew everyone by name; the secretaries, the lobby clerks, even the policeman on the corner. You were never a stranger for long when ‘Wayno’ was walking and talking.

They told me, “You’re going to be an office broker.”

Wayne said, “When I was hired by Coldwell Banker, they told me, ‘You are going to be an office broker.’ That sounded great to me, but I really did not know what they meant. When I asked them exactly what an office broker did, they pointed outside their office window and said, ‘Do you see all of those buildings out there? You are going to learn everything there is to know about every single floor of every single building.’ ”

“They told me I needed to meet with every tenant leasing agent, property manager, lender, and owner associated with those buildings. I needed to learn all about the square footages, the rental incentives, and tenant improvements. Basically, I needed to learn details of every lease.”

Wayne added, “That can seem like a daunting task for a new real estate agent, fresh out of professional baseball. It took me about 18 months to do that groundwork. And it is groundwork! Your energy level has to be very high. When you start at the top of the LeVeque Tower and start working, floor by floor, it can be exhausting.”

One time someone asked Wayno, “What if there is a ‘no-solicitation’ sign outside the office?”

“Better yet!” he replied. “That means there is a good chance some of the other brokers were scared off. The reality is, if you haven’t been thrown out of every building in your territory at least once, then you’re not doing your job.”

The Lesson I Learned that Day

The questions I had the day were insignificant compared to the education I received, walking and talking. This is what it is all about; getting face-to-face and personal with the people with whom you want to do business. It was the best lesson I ever learned in commercial real estate. The best result has been the close friendships that have resulted from walking and talking.

www.talkingandtalking,com

The post My First Lesson in Commercial Real Estate – Walking and Talking appeared first on Walking and Talking.

I recently released my new book, Bedford Falls.

Every time I gave a manuscript of Bedford Falls  to a friend or colleague, they’d ask, “Why did you write a novel?” The setting of the story is the world of real estate in Columbus, Ohio – a place I know and love. But still, there are always trade-offs, and writing a novel takes a lot of time, energy, and focus. So, why did I write a novel?

I suppose the answer is, like so many of you in real estate, I like to connect.

 Why do you …

• Organize golf outings,
• Establish real estate groups, and
• Launch so many charity events?

Because you are connectors. You bring people together. You gravitate towards being with others.

It’s time to reconnect! This makes for a good excuse to get together.

Over the last couple of years, when it was challenging to maintain relationships, I wrote Bedford Falls, with the idea that it would create a great opportunity to get together with friends and colleagues for breakfast, a cup of coffee, or who knows, maybe even a group-luncheon or two, where all of us can reconnect! I’m open to your suggestions!

That is why I wrote Bedford Falls, a novel.

And yes, you can order the Kindle version here at Amazon.

Or click here to order a paperback edition at Amazon.

The post Why Did I Write A Real Estate Novel? appeared first on Walking and Talking.

Rawhide! President Ronald Reagan loved working with his hands, and being outdoors. And, you can see from this photo, taken at Camp David in November of 1981, that he loved to ride horses.

Photo Courtesy of Ronald Reagan Library

 – Ronald Reagan on many occasions.

Rancho del Cielo

This picture of Reagan was taken 7 months after the 70-year old entered George Washington University Hospital to have a would-be-assassin’s bullet removed from his chest. Horseback riding at Camp David was therapeutic for Ronald Reagan. But, Rancho del Cielo was his true sanctuary.

He called it his “Cathedral in the Sky” (Rancho del Cielo is Spanish for Sky’s Ranch, or Heaven’s Ranch).  It is where he could sort out problems while riding his favorite seventeen-hands-high thoroughbred for hours at a time. He could enjoy Mother Nature in all her glory.

He kept his ranch simple, sturdy and rugged.

Riding with Reagan

According to Secret Servive Agent John R. Barletta, in his book Riding With Reagan, “When President Reagan was elected, he became the first modern president who enjoyed horseback riding, and I was tasked with establishing a Secret Service detail on horseback to protect him on his rides.”

Barletta writes:

“He loved physical labor, which was something the press could never quite understand. Every year, the President hosted a party for the traveling press at Barney Clinger’s estate in Santa Barbara. At the party, Sam Donaldson once said,

‘Now, Mr. President, I hear you like to go out and trim trees and cut wood.’

‘Yes, yes I do,’ the President responded.

Donaldson went on. ‘Now just how big is the ranch?’

‘Six hundred and eighty-eight acres.’

‘Well, Mr. President, at that rate you’ll never be through trimming.’

‘I hope not, Sam.’ He said.”

His love of the ranch was one of the reasons why the Secret Service’s code name for Reagan was Rawhide.

Where is your Rancho del Cielo? Connecting with Mother Nature

Do you have a passion that gets you outdoors to ride horses, or ski, or mountain bike? Do you enjoy hiking, or boating, or bird-watching, or hunting, or fishing, or walking the beach?

How do you connect with Mother Nature on a regular basis? Breath the fresh air, walk the land, and surf the water? Reagan believed that it was energizing to do physical activity outdoors. It made him more effective when he was at work in the White House. It kept him in a positive frame of mind.

He wasn’t one to spend vacation time relaxing all day on a beach chair. He worked hard, broke a sweat, worked with his hands. He loved the physical activity, and it kept him in outstanding physical condition.

Be intentional and identify your Rancho del Cielo!

The post Have You Discoverd Your Rancho del Cielo? appeared first on Walking and Talking.

My book, Single Page Life Plan for Realtors explains how you can extend single page planning to all of your important projects and ventures. Single Page Checklists are a ‘catch-all’ for special projects that you can review regularly to stay focused.

Click here to enroll in my online class, Buying the Apartment Next Door at 50% off (Coupon Code is Plan2022) and receive a signed copy of the book: https://bit.ly/3rqBquh

For example, the Single Page Checklist for Buying Apartments summarizes on a single page the 4-color, 6 page laminated flyer I created that explains:

• How to build your team of advisors.
• Things to consider in putting together contracts.
• Important questions you need to ask the seller of apartments you are buying.
• The important questions to ask to obtain favorable financing.
• How to select a good property management company.
• The types of insurance you need to consider.
• Criteria of good multifamily property.
• Ways to continue to learn more about investment real estate.

This format can work for all of your projects.

Other examples of Single Page Checklists that I have on my blog include:

• Real Estate Brokerage and Sales
• Wedding Plan on a Single Page

You can use a Single Page Checklist to implement a social media plan for your company, a new product plan, or a new fundraising campaign. And the great thing about having your plan on a single page, is that it keeps every on your team on the same page together. Everyone stay laser-focused on the steps needed to achieve the goal!

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With a Single Page Checklist, Priorities must earn their way to page one!

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They took the refrigerator!

I immediately called the seller, who explained that those particular tenants had previously sold their home, and so they had brought their own refrigerator with them. He had simply forgotten, and there was no mention of it in the lease.

Download 32 Questions PDF

“Garry, I just put the fridge that was in their apartment into storage, and used it the next time one of my other ones broke down.” The seller delivered a replacement-refrigerator, which was included in the sale of the apartments, and everyone was happy.

If we had asked the seller, prior to closing, if he owned his appliances, it might have prompted his memory and helped us to avoid all of the hassle. Attached is a checklist that has some of the questions you can ask an owner prior to writing a contract. What questions do you ask before buying apartments?

There are more questions to ask!

32 Questions to Ask When Buying Apartments is by no means an exhaustive one that includes everything you need to discover before making a purchase, but it will get you started. In places like Manahattan and San Fransisco, there are a host of additional questions that need to be asked regarding rent protection that limits what you can charge in rent and how quickly you can raise rental rates. It is important to contact attorneys, brokers, and property managers who are familiar with the particular city in which you are making your purchase.

Questions, questions, questions! Keep asking questions to make an informed purchase.

What questions do you ask when buying apartments?

32 Seller Questions Attachment

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