S.E.C. Real Estate Observer

Everybody’s “gotta be somewhere” — right? Every property’s “gotta have an owner” — right? From the Empire State Building to the four-unit motel that was just condemned, all real estate is owned by a legal entity.

Admittedly, some paper is not worth papering your walls with, but that which one feels comfortable (and that takes in the vast majority of notes) is truly an excellent commodity, and one that the real estate practitioner would be wise to understand and learn to work with.

CHECK YOUR HABITS! It has been said that we are creatures of habit and Real Estate Brokers are certainly “habit” creatures.

The national Society of Exchange Counselors is to be credited with experimenting with and perfecting real estate problem solving. Problem solving actually is a result of brainstorming a problem wherein pros and cons are all brought out. In properly done problem solving, all minds in the room are centered on the same problem at the same time, with nothing else in front of them except the package that describes the property and the problem at hand [...]

When thinking about building their own estates, most real estate practitioners give up before they start because they don’t have a “nest egg” (a reasonable amount of cash for investment). This is a faulty concept because a practitioner can have his nest egg if he sets it as a goal.

I’ve tried a thousand ways to get more done in a day and the following methods are the ones that work for me. Maybe they will for you. The night before when you go to bed you have chosen a time to get up. When that time comes don’t fight it. At the first sound of the alarm, throw your feet out on the floor and stand up, and MOVE toward whatever you do first. With your day started that way, nothing will be able to withstand your attack.

The best problem solvers we all have known always asked a lot of questions, didn’t they? Quick solutions were seldom forthcoming, and multiple-choice selections of answers almost never readily available.

“I am not the kind of person who can save money to build an estate.” The author is unknown, but often quoted. It is a fact that it takes money or assets to get started in Estate Building. Many Brokers and Salesmen will admit they are unable to create and maintain a savings account. Money is always needed for short gap emergencies like office rent, family expenses or to close a transaction. Thus, many potential estate builders cannot even get started.

Question: Many people have called you the father of modern real estate exchanging. When did you really see a need for this field to become a specialty? Answer: It was in the latter part of the 1940s that I could see the need to become a specialist in the “people business” to succeed in property, and professionally conduct an exchange and counseling business.

The title of this article is sheer nonsense. It’s a cliché usually uttered by those unwilling to try. “You gotta have money to make money” is an easy “cop-out” for those who lack a positive mental attitude and have no understandable plan for accomplishment. It is true that persons with money certainly have a most proper resource (and money is a resource to the estate-building real estate practitioner).