Archive for the ‘radio interviews’ Category

What to do When Struck by a Bolt of Inspiration

Wednesday, August 7th, 2013

Do your remember that last time you were tied up in knots because you were facing an overwhelming problem?

Then, out of the blue, at 4:00 in the morning, you wake up and the answer to your problem flashes into your mind.

The  really interesting question is, how do you respond to this epiphany? By immediately acting on this inspiration, or ignoring it as fanciful, or not practical, and letting the idea fade from your memory?

Ralph Waldo Emerson said:

“A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within,”  and “abide by that spontaneous impression” even if the whole world is against you.

While we may under-value this great source of inspiration, there are people who have held onto it with every bit of strength that they have, and that has made all the difference in their lives.

Philippe Petit

The Artistic Crime of the Century

On August 7, 1974, Phillippe Petit rigged a wire between New York City’s World Trade Center Twin Towers and walked back and forth across the 200 foot distance between the world’s tallest buildings eight times before he was arrested. He was almost one mile (1,400 feet)  above the ground, walking on a 3/4 inch wire.

Policemen  sent to apprehend Petit were so awed by the scene unfolding before their eyes  that  instead of arresting him they watched in amazement. One policeman said, “We thought we’d never see anything like this again in our lifetime.”

The “artistic crime of the century” took six years of planning. Petit made several trips to New York for first hand observations. He built a scale model of the towers in France to practice on.

But, as fantastic as the actual feat is, of more interest is how did Petit come by this stupendous obsession?

Petit discovered the World Trade Center in 1968 when he saw an artist’s rendition of the yet-to-be-built structure in a magazine while sitting in the waiting room of his dentist’s office. Petit was mesmerized by the drawing, and from that moment, tightrope walking between the two twin towers became his life obsession.

He never thought, “how much is this going to cost” or “will this take too much time.” He only thought, “I’m going to do it.”

Will Rogers

I Never Met a Man I Didn’t Like

Will Rogers was the single most popular and beloved man of his era. The inscription on his tombstone reads, “I never met a man I didn’t like.”

Rogers was raised in Claremore, Oklahoma. He worked as a ranch hand and became very good at roping and rope tricks. Because of his magical skills with the rope, he was hired by the owner of a traveling group of entertainers to perform his rope tricks.

While Will was extremely talented, and had many dazzling tricks, he did the show in complete silence. His show was entertaining but he was not one of the top attractions.

What changed Will Rogers from silent rope tricks to international fame as the “Cowboy Philosopher”?

According to his wife, Betty Rogers, the turning point in his career came one night when he was attempting one of his most difficult rope tricks of jumping through the lariat with both feet. This particular night, he only got one foot through the rope, instead of two. The other foot got tangled in the rope. He was embarrassed and made the off-the-cuff remark, ” Well, I got all my feet through the rope, except one.” The audience exploded in laughter.

Betty said, when that happened a light came on in Will’s mind.

From then on, in each performance, Will purposely failed when doing that trick, and each time his funny comment brought the house down.

Will began to include more off-the-cuff humor into his act, and the manager of the show asked Will to introduce the other acts and make humorous comments in the process. His fame grew. He went on to host radio shows, wrote daily newspaper columns, and at the time of his death in 1935, he was the highest paid actor in Hollywood.

Robert Frost

Miles to Go Before I Sleep

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

This is the final stanza  from Robert Frost’s most beloved poem, “Stopping By The Woods on a Snowy Evening.”

Frost wrote hundreds of poems but this one is considered his masterpiece.

What inspired Frost to write these haunting words?

Frost said that he had been up all night writing a long poem and had finally finished when he opened the front door and realized it was morning. He went out to view the sunrise and, and in his words, he suddenly got the idea to write the poem “as if I’d had a hallucination” and wrote it  in just “a few minutes without strain.”

Phillippe Petit, Will Rogers, and Robert Frost, all embraced their bolt of inspiration.

They accepted it without fear or hesitation, allowed it to take over their lives.

Think about this the next time you are in your dentist’s office and pick up a magazine to read.

Upcoming “Turn Your Home Into a Rental House ” Radio Interviews (most shows can be heard  on the internet)

Wednesday, August 14th, at 9:15 am (eastern), I’ll be on Dave Kelber’s show, WRNJ Radio, Hackettstown, NJ. http://wrnjradio.com (to listen live).

Watch this space for information on additional interviews.

Related Articles

Volunteering at Pascua Yaqui Youth Career Academy Job Fair

Getting Rid of Bad Tenants

Saturday, July 27th, 2013

 

Don’t’ rent to these guys!

On my Friday interview on the David Sutton radio show (KRSN AM 1490, Los Alamos, NM), David’s co-host Nancy asked me about one of the common fears of people who would like to own rental houses.

Can’t Get Rid of Tenants? 

She said,

“Once you have tenants in your rental house, even if you want to, you can’t get rid of them for at least one year.”

My response was,

“That’s not exactly right. The tenants may have signed a lease for one year, but that doesn’t give them a free pass to do anything they want to in your property. If they violate the contract (by not paying the rent, disturbing the neighbors, doing auto mechanics in the front yard, etc.), then regardless of how long the lease is for, you can remove them.

The bad news is, they can fight you in court if they don’t agree that they violated the contract.”

Month-to-Month Lease -The Bain of Bad Tenants 

The approach that my wife and I take to avoid extended, and costly, legal fights, is to have all of our tenants on a month-to-month lease. This allows us to scrape off bad tenants like barnacles. All we have to do is to notify them that we are canceling the lease, and they have to be out in 30 days. There’s no fuss, no going to court, easy as pie.

I thought that tenants might balk at having to sign a month-to-month lease, rather than having a long-term one, but every one just accepts it as normal. I explain to them that the advantage for a month-to-month is that it protects both the tenant and the landlord. If they are not happy in our rental house, we prefer that they leave.

We Remove a Bad Tenant 

My wife and I have only had to evict tenants once in our 12 years in this business.

The police informed us that they had the people in one of our rental house under surveillance for drugs because a lot of people were coming and going at odd hours. That was the final straw, since they weren’t model tenants anyway. We canceled their month-to-month contract and they left without any objection.

As we do with all tenants, we gave them a “Move Out Information Letter” describing the steps of the moving out process, which they followed.

Our Fondest Desire: Long Term Tenants 

Of course, our objective is to keep good tenants in our properties into eternity. (We’re exploring options to keep them as tenants, even in the afterlife!)

We don’t want them to ever leave, and we will bend over backwards to keep them happy. That’s how money is made in this business, by having good long term tenants.

We lose money when we have a lot of tenants move in and out, and the unvarnished truth is, we  do like to turn a profit.

 

Upcoming “Turn Your Home Into a Rental House ” Radio Interviews (most shows can be heard  on the internet)

Wednesday, July 31, at 8:15 (central time), I’ll be interviewed by Rich Petersen, KROC 1340 AM, Rochester, MN.

Tuesday, August 6th, at 8:10 am (central time), I’ll be on Bob Schmidt’s show, WLFN 1490 AM, Onalaska, WI.

Tuesday, August 6th, at 9:40 am (eastern), Greg O’Conner will interview me, WKHM 970 AM, Jackson, MI.

Wednesday, August 14th, at 9:15 am (eastern), I’ll be on Dave Kelber’s show, WRNJ Radio, Hackettstown, NJ.

Watch this space for information on additional interviews.

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How I Evicted A Problem Tenant in 4 Steps

When to Hire a House Inspector – Radio Interview with Rich Peterson

Getting Rid of Bad Tenants

“Turn your home into a rental” on Mark Wayne Show

7 Reasons to Live in a Fixer-Upper House While You Repair It

6 Steps to Roof Maintenance (for the Home that will Turn Into a Rental House)

Our First Rental House Plunge

10 Most Frequent Problems Found by House Inspectors

5 Steps to Get Your House Ready to Rent by Terry Sprouse

5 Steps to take if your house is flooded

Some perfectly legal ways to maximize your rental profits

Add “Start a Rental House Business” to Your Bucket List

The 5 Rules on How to Lose Money and Get Your Rental Property Trashed by Tenants

Window Repair with #2 Son

Required Roof Maintenance for Fixer Upper Houses

Learn to Repair Your Fixer Upper Houses

How I Got Started In Fixer-Upper Houses

How to learn to operate a fixer upper house business

The Peaceful Warrior and Fixer-Upper Houses

Do government regulations inhibit landlords from selecting good tenants? – Radio Interview with Dan Ramey

Monday, July 22nd, 2013

 

In my interview last Friday with the inimitable Dan Ramey (at WBEX 1490 AM in Chillicothe, Ohio) to discuss “Turn Your Home into a Rental House,” he asked the question,

“Do government regulations make it difficult when it comes to selecting good tenants?”

My answer was,

“all landlords and owners are required to comply with the Fair Housing Act. The Act prohibits discrimination based on race, creed, color, disability, among other things. We don’t find compliance with the Act an onerous requirement.  To us, it’s only fair that all tenants should get equal treatment.

The Fair Housing Act does not tie our hands when we select tenants because we can still base our tenant decisions on relevant factors, such as:

1.) Does the tenant have enough income to afford the rent;

2.)  Are their personalities compatible with ours;

3.) Do we think they will take good care of our house; and,

4.) Have they been good tenants in the past;

In short, we screen our tenants carefully, and we’ve only had to remove a tenant one time during our 12 years in this business. Government regulations don’t interfere with our tenant selection process.”

Here is the link to my complete interview with Dan Ramey.

 

Upcoming “Turn Your Home Into a Rental House ” Radio Interviews (most shows can be heard  on the internet)

On Thursday, July 25th, at 7:10 a.m. (central time) I’ll be on Jeff Anderson’s show, KSDR 1480 AM, Watertown, South Dakota.

On Friday , July 26th, at 7:30 am (mountain time) I have an interview with David Gillian, KRSN 1490 AM, Los Alamos, NM.

Wednesday, July 31, at 8:15 (central time), I’ll be interviewed by Rich Petersen, KROC 1340 AM, Rochester, MN.

Tuesday, August 6th, at 8:10 am (central time), I’ll be on Bob Schmidt’s show, WLFN 1490 AM, Onalaska, WI.

Wednesday, August 14th, at 9:15 am (eastern), I’ll be on Dave Kelber’s show, WRNJ Radio, Hackettstown, NJ.

Watch this space for information on additional interviews.

Will Rogers’ Secret of Seizing Opportunities

Wednesday, July 17th, 2013

“It was not so much that Will sought the new opening as that he never failed to seize it when it came his way.” — Betty Rogers 

It’s nice to think that we are captain’s of our own ship and masters of our own destiny. Who doesn’t want to like Captain James T. Kirk or Bill Gates?

In my own case, I know that the reason I became the person I am today is by, not so much bending life to my will, but more by taking what life handed me, and by being keenly alert when a new opportunity presented itself.

That’s the way Will Rogers found success.

As his wife Betty said in her biography of Will:

His whole career was the development and unfolding of a personality through the various vehicles that seemed to be constantly and almost miraculously presenting themselves. His comment on stage on the stage during his roping act was incidental at first, if not accidental. (Will never spoke during his Vaudeville rope trip act, except when he once made a mistake and the audience laughed at his funny excuse. From then on, he incorporated that comment, and gradually others, into his act.)

His writing came the same way. (Will wrote a regular Sunday feature for the New York Times that was syndicated throughout the U.S.) His entrance into the movies, too, was not of his own seeking  (he starred in 69 movies). But once started in these new fields, he made the most of each, giving to them the same enthusiasm and energy he had given to the rope (tricks) in the early days.

I added the comments in parentheses to the text.

Meander in the Direction that You Want to Go

I know I’ve probably said this before, at least in Fix em Up Rent em Out, but a good way to get started in real estate, particularly if your circumstances are such that it is impossible for you to start investing in real estate right away, is to just start by meandering in that direction, like a slow, gurgling stream.

You can program your mind to pay attention to anything related to real estate. Cut articles out of the newspaper, buy books at book sales, tale to friends and co-workers about it, watch for seminars and classes about real estate investing. Sometimes desire and knowledge can be acquired simply by observing someone else operating a successful business.

And, when the opportunity does present itself to get started, like Will Rogers, seize it!

 

Upcoming “Turn Your Home Into a Rental House ” Radio Interviews (most shows can be heard  on the internet)

Friday, July 19th, at 7:45 am (eastern time), I will be interviewed by Gary Sutton and Chris Tyler, at WSBA 910 AM  in York, PA.

Friday, July 19th, at 8:10 am, I’ll be on Dan Ramey’s show on WBEX 1490 AM, in Chillicothe, Ohio.

On Thursday, July 25th, at 7:10 a.m. (central time) I’ll be on Jeff Anderson’s show, KSDR 1480 AM, Watertown, South Dakota.

On Friday, July 26th, at 7:30 am (mountain time) I have an interview with David Gillian, KRSN 1490 AM, Los Alamos, NM.

Tuesday, August 6th, at 8:10 am (central time), I’ll be on Bob Schmidt’s show, WLFN 1490 AM, Onalaska, WI.

Watch this space for information on additional interviews.

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Volunteering at Pascua Yaqui Youth Career Academy Job Fair

What Riles Me Up – How to be a great radio show guest

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012

Yesterday, I participated in a telephone seminar on “how to be a good guest on radio shows.” I have been on many radio shows to promote my books, but I’m always looking for new ways to be a better guest, or perhaps more appropriately, a greater guest.

One point that the presenter mentioned really struck me. He said that radio shows prefer guests who have a strong opinion. They want you to be riled up about something.

Not gonna take it.

The presenter asked, “Why are you angry? What are you going to do about it? What makes you angry about your profession?”

I told the presenter, “I buy fixer upper houses in Arizona and turn them into rental properties, and I write books, but I’m not really angry about anything.”

He said, “Aren’t you angry about the economy, or the fact that a lot of Canadians are buying up foreclosed houses in Arizona?”

I said, “No way.

Let me entertain you, eh?

Sure, our Canadian friends have infiltrated the entertainment industry with singers, actors, and comedians practically indistinguishable from their American counterparts, but they don’t buy fixer upper houses, which is my gig; and the recession makes houses cheaper for me to buy.

But, I was angry when I had my work hours reduced during the 2001 recession. That forced me to change my way of thinking about what constituted economic security, and got me started on my fixer-upper house business. That’s also motivated me write my first book.

Looking back, I was wrong to be riled up at the recession. What I should have been riled up at was my own blindness and misplaced faith in something as ephemeral as a steady economy. I should have been riled up that I waited for a disaster to strike before I took action.

Maybe my approach should be that I am riled up about other people who don’t learn from their own painful experience, or from mine. Not that everyone should run out and buy fixer-upper houses, but everyone should  establish economic security, or carve out their niche, apart from, or in addition to, their 9-5 job.”

He replied, after a thoughtful pause, “maybe that’s it … people who never plan for a safety net.

This is the major problem we are seeing … if people prepared, they wouldn’t be so panicked.”

So that’s it.

Now I have something to be riled up about; to express my rightful indignation over.

Preparing for my next  radio interview

Watch out!

When I hit the radio waves to promote my next book I’ll come out swinging! Grrrr!

Weekly Blog Roundup

Additional recent blog articles that I liked:

How to make a vacant property look occupied at Landlord Investor

Amazing Entrepreneurs – Interview With Diane Conklin at Louisville Gals

5 Thoughts Women Wish Men Knew and Theodore Roosevelt at Fearless Men

5 Easy Methods to Save Money without Thinking at Frugal Habits

Greek Hummus Dip Recipe at Work Save Live  (mmmm)

PoP Balance Sheet – September 2012 at Planting Our Pennies

What Happens to Kids Who Were Bullied? at Blue Collar Workman (Are you looking at me?)

GRE Tips: Acing The GRE As A Middle Aged Person Long After College at Untemplater

Tax Implications Of Running A Blog at Modest Money

Why buying the most expensive motorcycle on Ebay saved me money at Reach Financial Independence

Too Old To Have This Much Crap at Any Shiny Thing

Rental Property Series: How Much Did it Cost at Eyes on the Dollar

Extra Income During the Holidays at Making Sense of Cents

 

Coming Soon!

How to Turn Your Home into a Rental House, Instead of Selling It

Turn Your House into a Rental Property: Podcast of radio interview with Dan Ramey

Thursday, September 23rd, 2010

Here is my radio interview with Dan Ramey of WBEX in Chillicothie, Ohio.

I described the process that I use to turn a house into a rental property. I advocate that people use this when they are ready to buy a new house. Instead of selling their old house, they should just turn it into a rental property.

The average American buys 7 houses during their lifetime. If they kept all their old houses as rentals, they would have a pretty substantial monthly income by the time they retired.

Interview with Dan Ramey 09-15-2010

 Related Posts

Remove that Garbarge Disposal Now!

How to Turn Your Home into a Rental Property – Radio Interview with Ron Ross

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

I was interviewed by the engaging, master radio host, Ron Ross of WJBC 1230 AM in Bloomington, Illinois this morning.

I talked about how to turn a home into a rental property, including:

– how to do the financing

– getting good tenants

– taking advantage of tax breaks

– and preparing the old house to rent.

Before the show I heard Ron going through the news and he said that ratings were so bad at CBS that Katie Couric was showing up to work in sweat pants, a tank top and a ball cap too.

So, during the interview, I mentioned that one of the advantages of working with rental properties was, like Katie Couric, I can show up to work in sweat pants and a ball cap.

Listen to the entire radio interview.

Upcoming radio interviews

September 2 at 7:40 am, Good Morning Rochester with Rich Peterson, KROC 1340 AM, Rochester, Minnesota.

September 2 at 11:25 am, John Brown’s Mindset, KTRS 550 AM, St. Louis, Missouri.

September 15 at 8:05 am, the Dan and Mike Show with Dan Ramey, WBEX 1490 AM, Chillicothe, Ohio.

Money for buying rental houses

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

A good question came up today during my radio interview with Dave Kebler of WRNJ Radio in Hackettstown, New Jersey.

I was asked if it was now impossible to get a loan, either to refinance a house or to purchase a fixer upper rental  house.

The answer is no, it is not impossible to get a loan. Granted, it requires more paperwork and squeaky clean credit, but loan money is still available and at great 4.5% rates for 30 year loans.  I have taken out 3 loans in the last 12 months.

Is it worth it to take out loans for investment properties?

The economy is still as flat as Rush Limbaugh’s trampoline, but there has never been a better time to invest.  From the perspective of mortgage interest rates and low real estate  prices, this is a time of great opportunity.

When I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Central America,  people would ask me if the streets of American were paved with  gold. I said, they’re not paved with gold, but they are paved with opportunity. And they still are.

Upcoming radio interviews

Aug. 11, 8:10 am, Mark Wayne show, WICH 1310 am, Norwich, Connecticut.

August 17, 6:50 am, Jason Mansmith show, WRPN 1600 am, Ripon, Wisconsin.

August 20, 8:30 am, I will be on David Sutton’s show, KSRN 1490 am, Los Alamos, New Mexico.

August 25 at 8:08 am,  I will be on Jeff Anderson’s show, KSDR 1480 am, Watertown, South Dakota.

Interview with Mark Maxon Wednesday

Monday, August 10th, 2009

.
In his book, Achieving Excellence in Life, author and radio host Mark Maxon states that a foreign-born individual relocating in the United States is four times more likely to acquire a net worth of one million dollars in his working lifetime than a natural born citizen. He identifies the reason for that as conditioning. Growing up in the US, we are taught “Money doesn’t grow on trees; “We can’t afford that, we’re broke;” and “The streets aren’t paved with gold.” While in other countries, people say, “The streets are paved with gold,” and “In America anything is possible.” I find that pretty interesting.

Wednesday, I will have the pleasure of being interviewed by Mark Maxon about my book Fix em Up Rent em Out. I invite you to join us. You can listen to us live at http://themaxonshow.com/, and selecting “click to listen live”.

Details for upcoming radio interviews:

August 12, Mark Maxon, KTALK AM 630, Salt Lake City, Utah, 10:00 am Mountain Time

August 14, Gillian Sutton, KRSN AM 1490, Los Alamos, NM, 7:30 am Mountain Time

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The Zen of Investing in Rental Properties

Friday, June 19th, 2009

.

Inner and Outer Wealth

As I promote my book “Fix em Up, Rent em Out: How to start your own house fix up and rental business in your spare time,” something curious happens. When I appear on radio shows, one of the most frequent questions that I receive from the show host and from call-in listeners was, “can you explain what you mean by The Zen of Repairing Properties?”. That was the title of a chapter in my book. I was surprised by the response and attention that that chapter attracted. I thought, what’s going on here?

On the radio shows, I explain how I felt a sense of exhilaration and deep satisfaction, as I was making repairs on my fixer-upper house. It was like a religious connection to the spirit, or to my true nature. I could tell that I was on the right path, and in complete harmony with my deepest connections by the feeling of joy and fulfillment that I felt.

In fact, that chapter on The Zen of Repairing Properties was one that I most enjoyed writing because it was so close to my heart. The more radio shows that I appeared on, and the more calls I received, the more I considered expanding my thoughts on that chapter.

Many books discuss the business side of making money in business, but few address the spiritual dimension. Money provides happiness on one level, but we have all known or heard about people who are wealthy yet their lives are in complete disarray. Spiritually, their tank is running on empty.

Although the same principles apply to many types of businesses, I think real estate investing and the rental house business are uniquely suited to tie the spiritual and the profit sides of business together.

Lao Tzu, in The Book of Life, said:

Man at his best, like water,
Serves as he goes along:
Like water he seeks his own level,
The common level of life,
Loves living close to the earth,
Living clear down in his heart.

Herman Hess, in Siddhartha, said

Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at anytime and be yourself.

As the Bible says,

What does it profit a man to gain the world, and lose his own soul?

Is it possible to serve like water, find that sanctuary within, gain the world and not lose our souls? I think the odds are pretty good.

To be continued . . .

Here are my upcoming radio guest spots:

June 23, Greg O’Conner, WKHM, Jackson, MI, 9:30 am
June 26, Jason Mansmith, WRPN, Ripon, WI, 9:15 am
June 26, Peter Stewart, WABJ, Adrian, MI, 10:00 am
July 1, Jeff Anderson, KSPR, Waterton, SD, 7:00 am

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