March 25, 2005
What is your background?
I am the International Ambassador and co-founder of Nouveau Riche. I lead and build teams, create sales forces and training materials. I do my own recordings, my own scripting. The company creates brochures and websites.
Nouveau Riche is an amazing company. Jim, Mary, and I have had a long-standing business relationship. Three years ago we were discussing some of the losses we had from the travel industry, particularly from the “9/11” downturn in travel. With all these dynamic changes occurring in our lives, we reflected on what we wanted to do in the future. Jim and I always wanted to go into real estate.
During that discussion I told Jim, “I understand sales and marketing and you understand growing and building businesses from the ground up better than anyone I know. We know a lot about the best educators out there. Jim was best friends with Dolf Jurus and Robert Kiyosaki and knows Robert Allen extremely well. Let’s combine our skills and make this happen.” We figured if we opened up that Rolodex and made a few phone calls to explain the vision of our company, maybe some of these folks would like to come speak to us. That’s how we started. We created the company Nouveau Riche to educate people how to create long-standing wealth in real estate investing. We did it to teach folks how it’s done and to learn it for ourselves.
What advice would you give aspiring real estate investors?
Don’t let fear hold you back. That’s the number one killer to success in real estate investing. Overcome fear by taking action. One of the most valuable parts of our program is our community of like-minded investors that support and encourage one another to do what they have been taught.
Get educated. An informed decision is a more profitable decision. An individual can go out there and wing it but that’s not likely to create long-term success. If you do real estate right it can be a great investment, but if you do real estate wrong you will never want to do it again. That’s why Nouveau Riche plays such an important roll in their future because we have the tools, systems, and educational programs to teach people what to do and what not to do to overcome pitfalls of the uneducated.
What things will someone learn from Nouveau Riche?
One will learn to determine value. If you can’t determine quickly what a property’s true value is you could be paying too much. If you pay too much you’re never going to realize the profits you could otherwise.
Determine your specific real-estate criteria. Where do you want to buy homes? What kind of homes or real estate do you want to invest in? And then become an expert in that specific area. Too often folks go out and gather information in this subject and spread themselves thin by trying to do too much. There isn’t much money in that. It’s better to dedicate your self to become a master of one system. Once you master one system, then it’s easy to expand to another. Our educational system caters to the individual.
What has been your experience with real estate?
My most recent transaction is nice little three bedroom, two bath home with a swimming pool down in Glendale, Arizona. I picked it up 14 months ago without any of my own money or my own credit. I got the seller to stay on the mortgage, so we continue to fund it through his name, and I picked up the payments after that. We rented it out for a short time and kept things moving before we recently sold it. The difference between what I bought it for and sold it after real estate fees was a check I just received for $63,000 dollars. There are many opportunities out there and if folks know what to do and how to do it, there is no reason why they should have to work for anyone else again.
What are the traits of successful investors?
Our successful investors are courageous; they go out there looking for good opportunities and when they see one they act on it. When they exercise their decisive nature, they tie up more property, realize better deals, and capitalize on better real estate transactions than folks who want to take the “sleep on it” approach and miss on good opportunities.
Successful investors are disciplined. Whether full- or part-time, they must be willing to go out and take a look at property deals. If they are not willing to become experts in the market and make offers, they will never make it in this business. It doesn’t have anything to do with their economic station in life, traditional education or college degrees. It doesn’t have anything to do with race, religion, or family background. It has everything to do with who they are and their burning desire to succeed.
Apply the knowledge you gain. Applied knowledge is power. If folks seek learning and mentoring from seasoned professional investors they overcome the learning curve and avoid pitfalls. They will be able to enjoy benefits of investing and the profits that come with it for generations to come. That is a lasting legacy. That is something you can pass down because real estate never goes away. Certainly the rules and laws of our country change but real estate is one of the three basic needs of food, water, and shelter.
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