Several weeks ago I had the good fortune to share a few days with my friend Tony at his Northern California seaside home. This gave us ample time to catch up with each other’s life during the sixteen hour drive (each way) and some great hangout time.
Tony’s and easy guy to be around. We share many if the same ideas and life philosophies. He’s very considerate and a genuinely caring guy. And he works hard, too. More than I care to, to be frank. Although we approach the business from completely different angles, he has mastered real estate acquisition, rentals and disposition.
Of course, I tend to be drawn to the “wild” situations that seem to appear more frequently for properties with problems, especially deceased and missing persons. Title issues, too. Once I ‘discovered’ that it wasn’t my problem to own and solve unless it makes economic sense.
Like this trip, I’ll take a breather from the business, but that’s all I really need before returning to the allure of a messy probate or missing house owner deal that one if my associates has discovered and brought to me.
While unable to capture all the sounds and smells of the seashore, here’s a quick video pan shot from my iPhone in Tony’s backyard that gives you a quick feel for this unique and special property that overlooks both the mouth of the Smith River and the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean.
A six day vacation, while not sufficient for most people, is plenty for me. After all, four years ago I had a one-year + vacation forced upon me after my heart surgery and paralyzing stroke. Most people would get out of the game.
Nope. Not me. Once I figured out that I didn’t want the coupon-clipping lifestyle that others had adapted to after such a life hanging event, it was really just a matter of making a decision. That is, deciding what the next chapter would look like.
I’ve been passionate about real estate investing for a long time. When I stumbled on estates and title issues many years ago, I recognized that there were incredible opportunities; far more than any one investor or group could exploit.
It’s a bottomless well of people with big problems that they either can’t or don’t want to solve and an almost unlimited profit potential for the select few, like myself, who are willing to uncover, discover and prosper in the estate arena that most investors (or would-be investors) scoff at.
It’s because of the decision to focus on a niche that I consciously made some time ago, rather than being a generalist or running around chasing my tail, that I have better choices about how I spend my time and with whom I spend it with today.
What decisions will you make today? To read? To study? To watch TV? To write an action plan? To make a phone call? To take action and follow up on a lead?
