Real Estate Networking and Charity Happy Hour with The Gilliard Group

We here at the Gilliard Group are very excited to announce the Real Estate Networking Happy Hour for Charity on November 13, 2009, 5:00pm! As the Gilliard Group grows, we are afforded the luxury of giving back more and more to our community, building a stronger Baltimore one day at a time. Please RSVP to Glinda at glinda@investgg.com and show your support for the Baltimore Station. Not only are we all working to support an outstanding cause, but we will get to have a lot of fun in the process! Mark your calendars NOW!

About the Charity:

The Baltimore Station’s mission is to provide rigorous self-help programs in a safe, caring residential setting to support men, most of whom are veterans, who are transitioning from the cycle of poverty, substance abuse and homelessness to self-sufficiency.

Because typical institutional treatment programs last for only 28 days, most participants relapse after leaving. At The Baltimore Station, they have the knowledge and real-life experience to know it takes months of living in a highly-structured, therapeutic environment to learn and practice a new way of living. And this program works!! At least 65% of the men who stay in our program for one month are still here six months later. After 18 months, most are living independently, gainfully employed and/or enrolled in college, and contributing members of the Baltimore community. Station graduates hold jobs at Baltimore businesses, nonprofits, museums, hospitals, and at BWI Airport.

About the Gilliard Group:
The Gilliard Group’s mission and the impetus for the daily growth and development of the Gilliard Group, is the desire to attain peace of mind; the peace of mind that comes with the knowledge that we are making a difference in communities. The Baltimore Station is a non-profit organization that shares a common interest with the Gilliard Group as we are both working to improve Baltimore City. So come out and help this great cause. All are welcome!!

In support of The Baltimore Station We will be accepting donations of $15 at the door

RSVP to glinda@investgg.com
Bring plenty of business cards to network - Door Prizes
WHEN-Friday, November 13th 5 P.M.
WHERE-George’s Mt. Vernon
101 W. Monument Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
WHY-To Help Homeless vets

RSVP to glinda@investgg.com
Happy Hour Specials
2-4-1 Bottle Beers
2-4-1 Rail Cocktails
2-4-1 House Wines
$5 Appetizers

Seeing ‘for sale’ signs up and down the street should be viewed as an opportunity for money to be made if you are an investor. Although there can be great investment opportunities in a struggling town, there are a few things to look for when deciding to invest in an area to ensure you are getting a good deal. 

If you want a sure fire way to help you choose the right neighborhoods to invest in and make the maximum profits – READ ON.

Here are some questions to ask before jumping into a low price market:

• Are the businesses solid and/or growing in the area?
• Are the surrounding properties in good condition?
• Is the neighborhood appealing?
• What’s the crime rate in the area?

Another thing to take into consideration is how far from conveniences the property is. Having to commute long distances to a job or shopping is unattractive to today’s homebuyer.

In many cases the massive foreclosures of the last few years have left a lot of once affluent neighborhoods struggling but still only in need of a little help. If the homes are in generally good condition and the area has much to offer, those are the values to look for when considering a real estate investment. Buying these properties is actually good for the area because growing numbers of vacant properties soon lures in a criminal element that runs down once beautiful towns.

Investors who come in and restore the equilibrium to such cities by providing a beautiful living area to those in need are a great asset to the city.

©Brenda Pugh

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”  - Winston Churchill

Would you call yourself a pessimist? An optimist? Or maybe even a” realist”? So many people today avoid these types of labels. It’s often far easier to disregard them, or to only use them socially when it helps a person “fit-in”, and therefore they are identifying more with their peers then with themselves. So now take a moment to be honest with yourself… Are you a pessimist or an optimist? Picture this: tomorrow is trash pick-up and you need to gather up all the garbage from your home and take it out to the curb.

What does your picture look like?

Reluctantly gathering bags of trash from all the different waste buckets in your home, touching the gross, smelly Chinese food from 4 nights ago, lugging the big bag out to the can, throwing off the lid, tossing in the trash, and dragging the can down all the way down to the corner in your socks stepping on every single pebble along the way… and then ahhh.. finally done. Thank God.

Or have you been looking forward to cleaning up this unsightly mess? You remember this is the perfect time to clean out your desk drawer and gain some organization, not to mention toss those silly knick-knacks lying around you can’t even remember why you bought. Maybe while your picking things up you will find that battery you have been meaning to replace in your favorite watch! If nothing else, you know you really don’t want all that trash lingering around for another week.

See the difference?

The path to becoming a real estate investor, or achieving whatever it is your picture of success looks like, is a long, windy, bumpy, and sometimes unforgiving road. You are guaranteed to meet many challenges and obstacles along the way. The question is, how will you meet those challenges? If you’re first deal doesn’t close, will you decide that maybe this isn’t really for you? That your dream isn’t “realistic”? Or will you take what you’ve learned and move forward with even greater confidence, knowing in your heart you will make it, somehow, someway? When you look at the world through pessimistic goggles, every step along the way is a pain in the butt. Something else you’d rather not do or don’t have the time to deal with. You will tend to procrastinate, or simply never accomplish anything. It will consume your attitude, drain your energy, and bring your negative emotions to the forefront of your thoughts. Every time you hit a bump, you lose ground.

When you see through optimistic lenses, your world can change entirely. Every problem has a solution. Every obstacle has a way over, under, around, or straight through. Each challenge provides you the opportunity to grow, and therefore takes you once step closer to achieving your dreams. So ask yourself again, “am I an optimist or a pessimist”? Are you bigger than your problems, or are your problems bigger than you?

Remember, defeat only becomes failure when you stop trying. Sometimes changing your perspective is just the push in the right direction you need.
Eric Penn (C)2009

ALSO – don’t read the bottom half of this article until you watch the video

Ok, so how did you like it? Yeah, pretty amazing. I knew before I watched it that it was going to be good but I didn’t think it was going to be that moving. For me it summed up what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. Ok… I fibbed; this is about real estate. Qi Zang’s organ play is very similar to the emotional roller coaster we go through running a business and investing in real estate.

There are going to be ups, and there are going to be downs. When a deal comes together you are going to drive home and feel like you just conquered the world, then a deal that you have worked very hard on is going to fall apart and you are going to feel like your life is over. You must remain in control of your emotions. This will build your emotional intelligence.

Over time this will become easier to do, but in the short term just remember that many things will happen in your entrepreneurial journey. Be prepared mentally for the good and bad times. Don’t live up the good times too much don’t let the bad time discourage you. Always keep your mind on your goals.  

This should be a rule to live by for new investors and a reminder to myself and the experienced entrepreneurs out there. We can’t let our decisions be dictated by our emotions. 

What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

I thought I would share this video with the you. You should definably watch it. Its about sustainable building in urban areas and Majora tells about it with great passion.  Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

Majora Talks About:

-Leveraging a $10,000 seed grant into a $3,000,000 Park
-Green Roofs, Green Highway and Path Redevelopment
-Bottom Line Performing Green Redevelopment
-How Bogata Columbia Resurgence is a lesson for US Cities

and whole lot more… Watch Now.

Majora Carter: Greening the ghetto

This is the KEY to success in this market or any market for that matter. Read on.

We at The Gilliard Group pride ourselves on the use of systematic real estate investing.  It is through proper investment strategy and systemization that The Firm has achieved its success and expansion.

First, determine your strategy, and then systematize it.

Strategy

Let me start of by saying this is not a “bad” market. Markets i.e. real estate, stocks or commodities typically trend in one of two ways…up or down. We are currently experiencing a “down” market in multiple assets classes (the stock market and real estate) at the same time. Again, markets are not inherently good or evil they simply react to supply and demand, available credit etc. Upward or downward trending markets present SIGNIFICANT investment opportunity if you employ the appropriate investment strategy for that type of market. In fact, some of the greatest fortunes have been amassed in markets like our current one.

Our Firm believes strongly that there are always big opportunities no matter the market conditions. Take today’s “Doom and Gloom” market for example; every time I meet someone new, the question of “what do you do?” comes up. I tell them I am in real estate, and a look of sorrow comes over their face and they say “geez, sorry to hear that”. I always chuckle to myself before I explain how our Firm invests in real estate because I realize this person is making an assumption…you cannot make money in real estate in a “down” market?

Most have written off real estate as a good investment because property values are falling. Several years ago when the market was “good” it was beneficial to be a seller because it was a sellers market and prices were appreciating. Now that prices are falling, we see it as an opportunity to buy properties at a steep discount. In a buyers market like the one we are in now, the buyers set the terms of the transactions. Therefore in order to take advantage of these market conditions one must become a buyer or work with buyers. Market changes simply call for a change in investment strategy. A famous man (read Warren Buffet) once said “Be greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy.”

If you don’t personally have the resources to purchase and hold properties; then find an investor that is doing so, and work with them. You can find these investors at the local Real Estate Investment Associations (REIA) or by looking through the public records to see who has purchased multiple houses in the last six months.

I could write a whole article about approaching these investors and developing a working relationship with them but just realize that their time is valuable and that you should bring some kind of value to them if you expect them to pay close attention to what you have to say. Speaking of value, let’s talk about something that will set you apart from every other investor.

Systemization

Finding the right investment strategy is only one part of the puzzle to utilizing systematic real estate investing. Just as important as realizing the appropriate strategy is systematizing it. You must observe your strategy from a process-perspective, not only to automate the revenue stream in the long term, but to identify and eliminate problems in the short term. Whether you are a solo investor or you have a team of people you work with, a step-by-step approach allows you to focus on a specific area of the process, then identify problems and correct them.

By forcing yourself to evaluate the investment strategies from a process-perspective, you will be able to verify the necessity of each part of the process. This eliminates wasted time and money (particularly important in today’s market). Apply the process-perspective to your business and you will not only be building a long term and sustainable business with the systems to ensure it efficiency but you will improve short term profitability as well.

If you have questions or comments about post, we welcome them. Please share your thoughts below.

I heard recently that 98% of IRA funds (anywhere from 5 to 14 TRILLION) dollars are invested in the stock market with 2% of that market share being invested in non-traditional assets i.e. mortgage positions, tax liens, startup companies etc. With the global markets melting down, I am curious as to why more people aren’t investing their funds in self-directed IRAs. I think it goes beyond the mere fact that….well….people have no idea that they actually can invest in non-traditional asset classes if they work with a self-directed IRA company (See my earlier post Why Don’t More People Self-Direct IRAs into Real Estate?)

Although that is a HUGE component, I think its more the symptom and not necessarily the disease. Beyond that huge hurdle is “Ok…great…Mr. or Mrs. Self-Directed IRA person, I get that I can self direct my IRA but can you recommend an investment for me to invest IN once I roll my old 401K over to your organization?”

The answer is indubitably and definitively no!

Why, you ask? Because, self-directed IRA companies are forbidden from providing investment advice. This is an interesting and cruel twist of fate for the population en mass, the self-directed IRA companies that hope to serve them and the real estate investor (and other kinds of investors) who would like to work with said individuals rolling over 401ks. Big business essentially has a monopoly on 401K monies (when was the last time you worked at large corporate organization X and went to HR and said “I would love to invest my money in an individual mortgage position in a local market and have the borrower personally guarantee to pay me back or I’ll foreclose and seize the asset and file a deficiency judgment against the borrower.” I am guessing not often.)

So you see, even if you knew that you could self-direct you still might not know how to invest or what in. At the end of the day, you should invest in something that makes sense to you, allows you to sleep at night and provides you some protections.

Just the thoughts of one man who recently watched his stock market investment account half in value.

Via { EpiphanyMD }

Hello, Ryan Sears here. Vice President at the Gilliard Group.

It’s the same old story everywhere you look these days “the sky is falling”. We can’t turn on the news or read the paper without hearing how bad the economy is, or how bad the real estate market is. Well I am here to tell you that it’s all a bunch of hogwash.

Flat out… this economy is ripe with opportunity. Especially in real estate. Many people are dismissing real estate because prices are falling. Lower competition is just one of the things that have brought about great opportunities in this market. We have a different set of challenges than we did several years ago. Before, the challenges were finding sellers and getting properties under contract, now the challenges are finding buyers and securing financing. It’s not “better” or “worse” than other markets, it’s just different.

So what’s the solution? One of the most important things you can do is surround yourself with people who have a positive mind-set and are doing what you want to be doing. This will begin to change the way you think about business opportunities, investing, money, family and life. A quote I know to be absolutely true:

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
-Jim Rohn

By surrounding yourself with like-minded people, you will begin to see clearly the opportunities that are available. Through networking you will be able to acquire the knowledge and resources you need to succeed. Whether you’re just starting out or you are a seasoned entrepreneur, networking is one of the highest and best uses of your time.

There is a great opportunity to surround yourself with some of the most successful people in the Baltimore/Wahsington DC Metro Area coming up on March 26^th. You will hear great speakers (including Kenneth Gills) and network with like-minded people. I highly recommend attending this event (I know I will be there).

Our very own Kenneth Gills was named one of the top CEOs in the Baltimore/Washington DC Metro Area. You can here him speak live along with 3 other top CEOs at the “BE PART OF THE SOLUTION” event hosted by Inspirion Inc. on March 26^th from 6 – 8 PM in Vienna, VA.

Click here for more information

The Baltimore based firm, Gilliard Group and Mid-Atlantic based Provident Bank announced a joint endorsement last week. Kenneth Gills (President of The Gilliard Group) and Provident Bank have had a long standing business and personal banking relationship, extending from personal checking accounts to business accounts and payroll services. Mr. Gills had many positive things to say about Provident Bank, touting them as “a business friendly bank”.

The Gilliard Group provided a table display with an ongoing slideshow presentation presenting the firm’s products and services, including: real estate investment properties, investment education services and $123 free with a new checking account at Provident Bank.

Many folks continue to be surprised that a real estate investment firm is flourishing despite the current market conditions.Bank patrons were intrigued as many of them signed up to receive information form The Gilliard Group. For a limited time the table display and presentation are located at the Southside Marketplace location at 857 E. Fort Ave. in Baltimore’s Federal Hill Neighborhood.

Look forward to articles, audio and video on real estate investment techniques, business systemization, productivity, business strategy and much more. If you have topic suggestions or questions about real estate investing please submit them as a comment. Thank you.