New Name Coming - Making Lemons into Lemonaide

I have been publishing this blog for some time now under the current title of Easy Money in Real Estate: Telling You How Real Estate is Really Done.  I have decided that a makeover is in order.

I am going to rename this blog to be "The Lemonaide Stand" and integrate it with my electronic newsletter (coming soon).  Yes, I am aware that I am using an old way of spelling lemonade, since in current dictionaries he "i" after the "a" has been dropped.  I am spelling it this way deliberately to emphasize the "aid" nature of this endeavor.

When, I first started this column is was with the intention of actually dispelling the myth that it is easy to make big money in real estate.  I have listened to many "experts" sell their solutions on how to make lots of money really fast in real estate.  They are still selling that line to those who will listen.  I know that making big money in real estate is very possible.  It is even very simple at times, but it is never easy.  No one should ever confuse simple and easy.  That is a very dangerous and costly confusion to deal with.

So, I am emphasizing the aid element in my new endeavor.  It is based on the aphorism that when life gives you lemons, make lemonade, or lemonaide.

There are lots of lemons being handed out in today's economy; unemployment and foreclosures to name two of the biggest that many people face.  My desire with "The Lemonaide Stand" is to provide a forum where people of ordinary means can find ways to turn the lemons life is handing them into something good, lemons into lemonaide.

Shakespeare asked, "What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."  No disrespect to the Bard, but a name means a lot.  In the past this column was focused pretty narrowly on real estate, and although there will be a real estate related thread in the newsletter (and hence this column) there is more to the Lemonaide stand than real estate.

Imagine for a moment that you are living the life you want.  How does it feel inside you when you imagine that?  Can you actually feel the easing of tension in your chest, neck and back?  Do you feel the warm rush of well-being suffuse your body as the endorphins (or as I jokingly call them n-dolphins) swim through your blood stream at the speed of thought?  I do.  I am going to help you to Get and Keep the Life You Want (tm).

We will deal with Work, Relationships, Wealth, and Health.  You will learn to:

• Get and Keep the Job You Want (tm)
• Get and Keep the Relationships You Want (tm)
• Get and Keep the Wealth You Want (tm)
• Get and Keep the Health You Want (tm)

I am in a fairly unusual position.  I know quite a few people who are living the life they want.  I will bring to you their stories.  I will help you to apply their lessons to your life so that you can Get and Keep the Life You Want(tm).

Aside from knowing some very successful, fulfilled people, "what qualifies Tom to do this?" you ask.  Well, I am pretty much living the life I want, and have for several years.  So, learning from others and knowing a few things for myself, having done some things that very few people around me have, and having the desire to help, qualifies me for the job.

So, I hope you will subscribe (click on the "Follow" button) and follow this newsletter, not just tune in once in a while.  I hope you will read it and challenge what I say.  But most of all, I hope you will decide to do what you need to do to Get and Keep the Life You Want(tm).

Tom Sheppard has been successfully investing in real estate since 2001 while working part time. In 2008 he left a six-figure job as an enterprise project manager with a major national bank to manage his real estate business full-time. His goal is to help 100,000 people find peace of mind by finding quality, affordable homes. Why pay retail when you can buy a home at below market prices? www.buybelowmarket.com. He is currently looking to expand his network of funding partners who are helping him achieve this goal. If you would like to know more about how you can do well by doing good, contact Tom at TSheppard@ADBProperties.com

Easy Money: Read This Before You Buy ANY Real Estate Course

Before You Buy ANY Real Estate Course - Read This!

Have you ever heard one of those commercials/webinars/presentations for real estate that tell you how you can become a real estate millionaire without money or credit? Before you whip out your credit card to buy and start planning how to spend all that dough, consider this...


Switch gears for just a moment and try to stay with me. All food has three ingredients that give it flavor: fat, sugar, and salt. Diet foods that say "fat free" have compensated by adding sugar or salt. Those that say, "sodium (salt) free" have likewise compensated by adding sugar or fat. And, "sugar free" means they have put in extra fat or salt, or both. If you have food that is fat-free, sugar-free, and salt-free, it is also flavor-free.


Liken these three ingredients, fat, sugar, and salt to buying real estate. To buy real estate you need money, credit, and work. If you don't have money or credit, then you better be prepared to compensate by doing a whole lot of work! Oh, did I mention knowledge too? Because if you don't know what you are doing when buying real estate you will either lose a lot of money, go to jail, or both.


Lots of folks spend money every day buying get rich quick schemes. Most of these are either targeted at making money on the internet or in real estate.


As a guy who has made money and is working right now in the real estate industry, I am here to tell you that there is no such thing as easy money and getting rich quick is usually a prelude to getting poor fast, and maybe going to jail.

The fastest and easiest way to make a lot of money really fast is by robbing people. You see my point?


Over the past few years I have spent a lot of money on seminars and courses about how to buy and sell real estate. Nearly all of them were prefaced by a pitch that made it seem like it would be fast and easy to make money. Those parts of the program were lies.


Don't get me wrong. I have made money in real estate. I have successfully used much of what I learned in those seminars. However, making that money was neither fast nor easy.


Before you buy any real estate course you need to understand that no matter what the ad says, to make the program work you will need to dedicate a significant amount of time and energy over an extended period to make it work. In many cases, you also need to be prepared to pay out substantial sums to prime the pump. Your best bet is not to quit your day job just yet. If you cannot make enough money in real estate working at it part time, you won't do any better working at it full time, in fact you will do worse.


"But Tom," you exclaim, "they say I can make money selling real estate without money or credit. Are you saying they are lying?" No, they aren't lieing. But you aren't understanding the whole truth either.


I have made money in real estate without money (or without much) and without credit. I bought a $537,000 complex with no money down and only the lawyers and I got a check at closing. It can be done. But, it takes a lot of work and courage. It would have been a lot easier if I had money and credit.


So, here is the bottom line. Before you decide to try making money in real estate with no money and no credit, be prepared to work very, very hard. Be prepared to make a lot of offers that get rejected, and be prepared to invest time and energy to offset that lack of money and credit.

I did it and it works. But I still work hard at it.

Next time - The 10 Second Formula for Getting Rich

Tom ~

Buy a house now, to invest or to live in, either way don't pay RETAIL!

http://www.buyahousebelowmarket.com/