I’m a big believer in the power of positive thinking.  It is an absolutely integral part of becoming successful in anything that you do.  But while negative thinking can stop you from reaching your goals, positive thinking alone won’t get you there.  You must do the work. 

Someone once wrote, “The world is sown with good; but unless I turn my glad thoughts into practical living and till my own field, I cannot reap a kernel of the good.”  You need to till your field, and you need to do it with a great attitude.  When positive thinking is combined with hard work, you are virtually unstoppable. Read the rest of this entry »

The days of buy, fix, and flip are over with for the most part.  In these times of few buyers, high foreclosures, and surplus of properties, the market is in the perfect condition for investors to cash flow their way to wealth.  Rental prices are holding steady and in some markets increasing.  This provides the perfect storm for real estate investors to create cash flow off of their properties through rentals or seller financing. 

To begin with, what is cash flow?  Cash flow is the sum of the after-tax profit of a business plus depreciation and other non-cash charges.  This is the money you make minus expenses.  Once expenses are paid and you still have funds left over, this is positive cash flow.  If your rental income doesn’t cover your expenses for the year, this is negative cash flow.  NEVER buy a property Read the rest of this entry »

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) said Thursday that more lenders ran into financial trouble during the second quarter as the recession continued to saddle banks with soured loans. 

The number of troubled banks rose to 416 at the end of June from 305 at the end of March.  This is the largest number of banks on its “problem list” since June 30, 1994, when 434 banks were on the list.  This brings the total assets at troubled banks to $229.8 million billion, that’s right with a “B”, the highest level since Dec. 31, 1993 according to the FDIC.

Keep in mind that the total reserves of the Deposit Insurance Fund  stood at $42 billion, with the contingent loss reserve falling to $10.4 billion from $13 billion Read the rest of this entry »