S.E.C. Real Estate Observer

Happy Partners
Our number one goal of a real estate investment with outside investors is LIABILITY - to make certain that the partners are not in trouble because of the deal. All of our investors go into the deal knowing that we could lose some or all of our equity. But what they do not want [...]

Show Me the Money
WHERE WILL YOU GET THE MONEY FOR YOUR IDEA?
Generally speaking, there are two kinds of funds for the equity portion of your deal, partnership interests and loans. Obviously, a partner is someone that will provide cash or a balance sheet for a piece of the deal. Partners come in many “colors,” those [...]

The Business Plan
WHAT IS A BUSINESS PLAN FOR LAND DEVELOPMENT?
It is the business plan that makes the difference in dirt development. Unlike projecting rents and expenses on improved properties, land development must take into consideration many additional factors, especially the costs to get to the income. The end result is the same, income in and [...]

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of articles on land development that we hope readers of the S.E.C Observer will enjoy and be able to use in their business practices and investment activities.
WHY INVEST IN LAND?
Some of my fellow S.E.C.’s and other investors have asked me “Why land? It doesn’t have any [...]

As real estate professionals, if we do not bring value to a transaction, we will not be in this business very long. The days of order takers are over! Now buyers, sellers, potential tenants and landlords can access so much information on the different web sites that they can actually cut us out of the [...]

Editor’s note: This column is an ongoing series of vignettes recalling the sage counsel and advice received by SEC members and candidates from their mentors that have made a difference in the way they do business. Please feel free to jump in and tell us how your mentor changed your business life. Send your insights [...]

Editors note: This column is an ongoing series of vignettes recalling the sage counsel and advice received by SEC members and candidates from their mentors that have made a difference in the way they do business. Please feel free to jump in and tell us how your mentor changed your business life. Send your insights [...]

How many times have we all been involved with someone representing a property we wanted to purchase (or lease) for our client and we thought that the broker on the other side would kill the deal from sheer ignorance?
Are you guilty of saying, “I just wish that he would get out of the way and [...]

The SEC prides itself in counseling our clients. However, many times we have to deal with other brokers that don’t take the time to counsel their clients or don’t know how.
For instance, I want to buy an asset that is listed at a highly over-valued price. When I ask the listing broker how he established [...]

Tricia and I live in Southlake, Texas, the world’s best example of NIMBY, BANANA and all those other acronyms for “we are here and you can’t come in”. The average household income in Southlake is over $285,000 and the city is mostly large lot (minimum ½ acre) residential zoning with many 1 acre and larger [...]