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Are Cryptocurrencies a Scam and a Bubble, or Are They The Future?

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By Jan B. Brzeski

We have reached a very interesting moment for those of us with a strong interest in finance and economics. In recent weeks, some of the leading minds in the investment and finance business have opined about Bitcoin and other cryptocurriences. Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase called Bitcoin “a fraud” and Howard Marks has referred to it as a “speculative bubble” or “pyramid scheme”. He then revised his view, noting that it could be used legitimately as a medium of exchange, so long as enough people agree to accept it.

At the same time, if you ask a young person what he or she would do with $1 billion, don’t be surprised if the answer is to put a significant portion of it in Bitcoin and/or other cryptocurrencies. Silicon Valley is betting billions on the emergence of a sophisticated ecosystem centered around cryptocurrency. What is going on here?

I think the answer is a combination of three trends:

  • Decreasing trust in nation-states and in the U.S. in particular
  • Disillusionment with the established economy and today’s intergenerational bargain, and
  • Cynicism about banks and other financial companies

Many young people have good reason for their disillusionment and skepticism about traditional currencies and other trappings of our existing financial system. Given this backdrop, we may be witnessing a very historic moment where the smartest people in our current establishment just can’t see what is really happening–which explains why they are so out of synch with proponents of cryptocurrencies.

Lack of Trust in the U.S.

After World War II, the U.S. was widely viewed as both an economic superpower and a force for good in the world. When he left office, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s approval rating was 70%. By comparison, after his perceived positive handling of a string of hurricanes, Donald Trump’s approval rating has risen up from the high 30s to 40% as of September 2017. In the most recent Gallup poll, Congress enjoyed only a 16% approval rating, with 79% disapproving and 6% having no opinion.

Young people might reasonably ask, if the U.S. is one of the most democratic countries in the world, and the best we can do is to elect this President and Congress, why should I put any faith at all in government–or in the U.S. as a nation, or democracy as a system? And what about residents of other countries such as China, India, Russia, France, England, Brazil or Japan? In each case there is ample reason for younger people to feel very disillusioned about their parents’ generation and the outcomes wrought by their current political system.

Disillusionment with the Economy and Intergenerational Bargains

Today’s young people lost a lot of faith in our economic system during the last financial crisis. Millions saw their parents lose their homes to foreclosure. Today homeownership is totally out of reach for many urban coastal residents. Because a variety of factors, a small group of elites seems to be receiving a disproportionate share of the rewards that our economy produces, while the vast majority of people see stagnant income and rising health care and housing costs. With each passing year, one can feel the frustration building.

Furthermore, Moody’s has estimated that state’s unfunded pension liabilities stand at $1.75 trillion. This is the difference between the promises made to state public employees such as police and fire professionals, and the amount of money set aside to meet those promises. A further liability exists in the area of public infrastructure, where many highways, roads and bridges were built generations ago and have not been kept up. The American Society of Civil Engineers graded our infrastructure a “D+” with a cost of $4.6 trillion to bring it up to a “B”.

Together, these liabilities represent selfish behaviour by baby boomers and other older Americans at the expense of today’s younger Americans. Without knowing all the details, today’s teenagers and young adults understand what has happened. Their future has been mortgaged to support more consumption by their parents’ generation.

Cynicism About Banks and Other Financial Institutions

During the financial crisis, banks are widely perceived as having benefitted from originating and selling mortgages they knew were destined to fail. Bankers made huge amounts of money, and the world financial system came very close to collapsing. The public purse (taxpayers) had to bail out the entire banking system, and yet no bank executive was ever really punished. All of this is well-known and is resented a great deal by the average American, who makes a fraction of what bank executives get paid. One could argue that Donald Trump’s election was as much as anything a protest against elites who protected and coddled Wall Street and big banks, which banks in turn paid political elites large sums of money in the form of campaign contributions and speech fees.

While cynicism about banks and Wall Street has existed for a long time, we may have reached a tipping point. A recent Gallup poll noted American’s confidence in banks had dropped 22 percentage points in 10 years, from 49% in 2006 to only 27% in 2016.

Conclusion

So what are we to make of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies? Are Jamie Dimon and Howard Marks right to question their legitimacy? Or is Silicon Valley right to say, as one company CEO said recently, that the blockchain technology behind cryptocurrencies is the single most important innovation since the Internet?

It may be that both groups are right. The value of Bitcoin and Etherium may drop dramatically or even go to near zero. True, there is nothing behind these currencies–nothing “real”–other than an agreement and trust among a group of investors that they should have value.

The larger question is, what happened to the trust Americans had in the foundations of our current society and our world? What is the future of trust in national currencies, elected governments, democracy and our other institutions? And how much do young Chinese and Russian people trust their governments to act in their best interest?

Maybe cryptocurrencies are best seen as a revolt and a rejection of traditional institutions. Many young people are embracing the idea of system that is independent of any country or any elites. This seems like a trend that is likely to gather steam rather than peter out. Whether it is Bitcoin or Etherium or something else, there may be a real need for a new vessel for our trust and confidence, that is “outside the box” and outside the control of world leaders, elected officials and the traditional financial and economic system. Bitcoin and Etherium were designed specifically to bypass all of our current institutions, and at the moment, they seem to have arrived at the right place and the right time, to attract support from a generation that is largely unhappy with the way things work today.

Jan Brzeski
Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer, Crosswind Financial/Arixa Capital Advisors

Mr. Brzeski is the Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of Crosswind Financial and Arixa Capital Advisors, LLC, which together are one of California’s leading private real estate lenders. Previously, Mr. Brzeski worked in commercial real estate acquisitions, lending and asset management for a leading Southern California real estate family office. He began his career working at Goldman Sachs & Co. as an investment banking analyst.  Mr. Brzeski holds a M.A. in philosophy, politics & economics from Oxford University, a B.A. in physics from Dartmouth College, and is a licensed California Real Estate Broker.

Why Banks Do Not Lend on Certain Loans that Appear Conservative

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By Edward Brown

Ever wonder why banks shy away from loans that appear to be relatively conservative?

There are numerous reasons banks avoid making loans that, in general, one would think have a high likelihood of paying back. According to a banker who works for a well known bank, during the mortgage crisis of almost a decade ago, one thread seem to run through all of the bad loans on the bank’s books; late payments on even the smallest of items, such as a department store credit card. This type of information led banks to steer away from otherwise good borrowers [after the mortgage meltdown], since the banks did not want to have borrowers who tended to be late or default on mortgages. Thus, a borrower who never missed a mortgage payment but may have been late on a small credit card was seen as a bigger risk for a future default on a mortgage should there be instability in the economy.

Banks are not in the business of taking over property and do not want to be seen as predatory lenders. Even if a borrower has a “good story”, banks would rather not even entertain a loan, which, on its surface, appeared to be more likely to fall into default. Banks are very cash flow oriented. They do not want to lend to borrowers where there may be a question of how a mortgage will be serviced. In commercial real estate loans, banks use a ratio called DSCR [Debt Service Coverage Ratio]. The DSCR is a measure of the cash flow available to pay current debt obligations [principal and interest in cases of a mortgage]. It shows the ability to produce enough cash to cover the mortgage payment. In previous years [before 2007], most banks required a DSCR of at least 1.1. For example, if the mortgage payment [including principal and interest] was $10,000 per month, the net cash flow [after paying normal expenses and before the mortgage] needed to be at least $11,000 per month. This was not usually an undue burden, as most real estate investors would have expected to have at least a break even cash flow after paying the mortgage. However, after 2007, almost every bank in the nation tightened up their standards to where they insisted on a DSCR of at least 1.25 and as high as 1.35. Although this may not seem excessive, the extra 15 to 25 basis point requirement severely restricted one’s ability to borrow. The investor found would have to put down a much larger down payment [thereby a lower loan needed] on the property in order to satisfy a much higher DSCR. Many real estate investors did not possess the mandated down payment and found they could not qualify for the new higher DSCR.

Another aspect that impacted banks’ ability to make loans to less than stellar borrowers is that they are similar to corporations in that they rely on their good ratings [from S&P and Moody’s for example] in attracting either deposits or floating paper themselves [through Wall Street’s ability to attract bond financing]. From a deposit standpoint, although deposits are FDIC insured up to $250,000, many banks that have lower than AAA ratings find they have to pay higher yields to depositors in order to attract money. From a bond offering standpoint, the higher the rating, the lower rate the banks have to pay their bond holders. If a bank makes loans that appear “questionable”, they risk having their rating lowered and it ends up costing them in the long run. They find it better to avoid loans that may potentially give the bank a blemish, even though they would have earned a higher yield on the mortgage being provided to the borrower who appears to be below triple A in terms of ability to repay.

Most banks work off of a fairly slim arbitrage [due to competition], so it is not worth having loans in their portfolio that appear riskier. When a loan goes onto a “watch list” or goes into default, more of the bank’s resources are tied up and not available to be deployed into new loans. Loans that are put onto the “watch list” would be those loans in which the loan to value is not as strong as the bank had originally determined. Although the borrower may not be late on any mortgage payments, the value of the property may have declined to where bank auditors have determined that there is a more than likely potential default. For example, if the bank made a loan on a property two years ago for $100,000 on a property that had a value of $150,000 at the time the loan was made [67%], the bank would set aside a certain amount of reserves as prescribed by the FDIC. However, if the property declined in value to $117,000, the $100,000 loan [presuming the loan was interest only] now stood at over 85% LTV [Loan to Value]. Under this scenario, the bank would be required to set aside more reserves. This creates a problem for the bank in that this means less money for the bank to lend out, as the extra reserves ties up more of the bank’s capital and less is available to make loans. If the loan actually goes into default, substantially more reserves are needed to be set aside. After the mortgage crisis, stringent guidelines were handed down to banks, as the Federal Government did not want to bail more banks out. Thus, most banks found it was just not worth using their resources for potentially non-income earning activity.

There is a lot of activity in the lending arena as the economy has strengthened, and interest rates are still attractively low. With the numerous requests for loans, many banks are finding that they do not need to attract borrowers. They do not want to spend time having to explain to auditors [or even bank board members] why certain loans are being made when they have many “slam dunk” loans that are “cookie cutter”. Banks are finding that they cannot charge enough to the borrower to justify the extra time, expense, and risk to make a typical “non-bank” loan.

An alternative to conventional financing can be found with private lending companies. Private lending companies do not have the same reserve requirements and will generally provide loans with much less hassle and more expediently. These private lending companies are more interested in “equity based” lending, meaning that they are more interested in how much equity is in the property at the time they make the loan as compared to the DSCR or credit issues of the borrower. This provides the private lending companies an opportunity to fill a gap where the banks have left off – loans that are not generally considered risky but still need funding. However, the price of capital is higher because the private companies do not have the same access to capital that banks do. They cannot provide FDIC insurance to their capital resources; thus, they have to pay a higher rate than depositors of banks. In conjunction with higher access to capital costs, these private lending companies must charge the borrowers a higher [than bank] rate for the money. The benefit to the borrower is the access to otherwise unavailable capital; in addition, the borrower usually does not have to jump through as many hoops as applying with a conventional bank and will almost certainly be able to borrow in a shorter time window. Many borrowers find borrowing from private lenders worth the extra cost.

Of course, if time is not of the essence, a borrower should first attempt to obtain funding from a conventional lender; however, borrowers should not be dismayed if they are turned down by banks. Alternative sources of capital are available for funding requested loans. One only need to do a little research. Many mortgage brokers, who deal with banks, also know of private lenders. If the borrower is able to go direct with a private lender, there may possibly be a cost saving to the borrower as there is one less mouth to feed; however, many times, the mortgage broker can assist the borrower with expertise as to the pricing of private loans and which companies are reputable and which are not.

In bring a deal to a private lender, the borrower should be careful not to do a shotgun approach, which is to say that it may hurt the borrower in the long run to try many brokers at the same time for the same request. One may think this is the best way to obtain financing at the best price due to attempting to force competition, but, many times, it backfires on the borrower, as some brokers broker to other brokers. What often happens in this scenario is that there may be a chain of brokers involved, all adding their fee into the loan. A two point deal may turn into a four point deal because, by the time the loan reaches the final funding so many brokers claim they had a hand in the deal and all want to get paid. The borrower may find that a better plan of action is to find one good broker who is well connected with an array of lenders. Many times, this broker will know ahead of time what terms the borrower can expect and communicate this with the borrower, so there are no surprises. Some brokers specialize in construction loans [as due some lenders]; some will not touch personal residence loans due to the Dodd Frank regulations. It is best for a borrower to seek out a broker who is well versed in the type of loan that the borrower seeks.

 

 

Edward Brown

Edward Brown currently hosts two radio shows, The Best of Investing and Sports Econ 101. He is also in the Investor Relations department for Pacific Private Money, a private real estate lending company. Edward has published many articles in various financial magazines as well as been an expert on CNN, in addition to appearing as an expert witness and consultant in cases involving investments and analysis of financial statements and tax returns.

 

3 Unique Ways to Turn Your Property Into a Money-making Machine

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By Ashley Lipman

Almost any property is capable of turning a viable ROI if managed with savvy and foresight. Even bare vacant land can turn a profit if you know where to look for the right kind of customer.

Making money through real estate is as old as real estate itself (which is to say, “as old as dirt”), but we want to present here three often un-thought-of ways you can turn a profit from your land and/or building.

  1. Contract With a Cell Phone Company

There are some 300,000 cell towers in the US at present, and that number is growing by around 10,000 new towers per year. If you have vacant land in a strategic enough location, given the right zoning requirements are not an obstacle, you can make a lot of money by letting a cell phone company build a tower on your land and then collecting ongoing rent for the use of your land.

If a cell phone company approaches you with an offer, that makes it a lot easier (and gives you more “negotiating clout”), but you can also advertise or contact companies to make offers.

But don’t cut yourself out of a solid profit margin needlessly. Rent is this niche area varies greatly, from $100 to $50,000 per year (not month). In fact, you’re better off talking to an expert consultation firm to find out how to get the most cell tower rent before making any final decisions and signing on the dotted line.

  1. Run Your Rental “Empire” Smarter

Owning rental property is about as common a business venture as you’ll find, but the fact is, many landlords aren’t getting the full benefit out of their investments. There’s quite a learning curve involved in taking on land-lording, and so, it isn’t surprising if new landlords (and even experienced ones) have significant room to improve their profit margins.

The number one reason that property owners lose money on leases is, harsh as it may sound, that they lease to the wrong people. Having a unit sit empty can be frustrating, but you’re much better off being patient and upholding high standards. You need to combine two elements: an attractive “deal” to draw in good tenants and a thorough screening process to keep out bad tenants.

That means you make it clear that you will promptly respond to legitimate tenant complaints, make all reasonable and necessary repairs, don’t invade tenants’ privacy, provide (if possible) a tenant-only laundry facility and a game room/social lounge, and of course offer only well renovated and attractively decorated units. You charge slightly more than your target ROI, then you grant a year’s-end discount for paying rent on time or otherwise reward reliable, timely payers.

But also have strict rules for not disturbing other tenants, not destroying your property, and as to late fees and eventual evictions. Also monitor tenants for illegal subletting and other ploys. If all that sounds like work, don’t be afraid to hire a property manager: with the right policies in place, you can still do well. And you can still afford to be reasonable, patient, and generous with tenants with legitimate reasons for occasional late rent. It’s all a matter of having reliable, good renters in general, not perfect renters who never have a problem.

  1. Use Your Home to Generate Extra Cash

Another angle for homeowners is to simply use their home itself to generate extra cash. There are many ways to do this, so we can’t quite be exhaustive here. But here are a few prime ideas:

  • Set up a home office. Renovate, say, your attic or basement, or simply use a spare bedroom. If you can work from home even part of the time, you will save lots of money on transportation expenses. You’ll need a computer and Internet connection, but most people already have that anyway, so it’s not an extra cost. And you can typically deduct the cost of your home office from your taxes each year as well.
  • Offer storage and/or parking. Storage facilities are very popular these days, and they charge a hefty price monthly in many cases. If you have an extra shed, garage, or room, (or if you’re willing to put a new outbuilding up for the purpose), you may be able to attract people willing to pay a much-lower-than-normal monthly storage-space rental fee. Or, if you live in a neighborhood nearby a sports stadium, concert hall, or other popular venue, you may be able to advertise cheap, convenient parking and frequently get takers.
  • Take on a roommate. Anyone with a spare bedroom and bathroom, and who is willing to share their kitchen and living room with a “reasonable person,” should consider taking on a roommate. It’s easy to advertise online, in the newspaper, or on local bulletin boards, and you can save your new roommate money with lower rent at the same time you make extra money yourself and maybe gain a new friend.

 

Invest for Success!

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By Dr. Albert Lowry

You no doubt want to be a successful investor, but you need to know how to move beyond the wishing stage. I have some tips to help you get started and learn what to do to keep yourself on the right path. We’ll take a step-by-step look at how you too can go from just a dream of being a real estate entrepreneur, to having your own real estate portfolio that is your key to financial freedom for life.

First, you must set goals. Don’t just think about them, but instead put them in writing. The act of writing has the effect of making your goals more real and getting them into the subconscious part of your brain, so that they are always there in the background, motivating you.

Another important point to understand to prepare yourself for success, is that risks and sacrifices are involved. You already know that just about anything that has big potential rewards means that you need to push yourself out of your comfort zone, and this is no different.

Simply put, if you don’t make the effort, you won’t experience the reward. Here’s the level of effort that I suggest: at least one hour per day devoted to studying real estate investing concepts and their real-world applications.

On weekends especially, you have the opportunity to explore the real estate market in your own area by touring neighborhoods, looking at houses, networking with people, and building up a base of knowledge about prices, amenities, desirable areas, and more. You’ll sacrifice the time that you would have spent napping or watching TV, but the potential payoff is long-term financial independence for yourself and your family.

As I mentioned, there is risk involved. Any investment that can make money for you can also lose money. That’s a fact of life, but there are ways to tip the balance sharply in your favor. You can protect yourself by ensuring that contracts are written to your advantage, by paying attention to both what is in a contract, and also what’s not. It is imperative that you read and understand everything that is contained in the contract, including all clauses, and also foresee any contingencies that are not mentioned. You may even choose to have a real estate attorney to help you review property contracts to be sure that there are no “gotchas.”

Now, I promised that I would provide you with step-by-step instructions to Invest for Success. This is a quick thumbnail sketch of the 7 steps involved in the process and important points to know. You’ll tailor a plan for yourself, but this will give you a good start.

  1. Develop a simple plan. Keep your real estate portfolios local and plan to focus on single family homes at the beginning.
  2. Learn your market. We touched on this earlier because it’s important to know prevailing costs per square foot, develop the capability to assess quality, and have a good working knowledge of which amenities are desired in your area. That will give you the ability to spot bargains. Using a mentor who has succeeded in real estate investing can help you fast-track this process.
  3. Think like a businessperson. Like any business, you will want to buy at wholesale and sell at retail. You’ll make businesslike assessments of each property to determine whether it should be held for rental income or sold for resale profit.
  4. Learn to identify hidden bargains and act quickly. Acting quickly does not mean acting impulsively, though. You still will carefully structure your contracts with contingencies and the option to assign the contract, which will protect your interests and profit potential. If your plan is to flip, be sure beforehand that no “major surgery” on the property is required. Any improvements you plan to make should be visibly beneficial and have the potential of raising the rental price or the resale value.
  5. Learn landlording. Even if you plan to turn the task over to a professional management company, you still need to know the fundamentals of how to manage properties and tenants. Otherwise, how will you know whether a management company is doing a good job for you, or not?
  6. Establish trade accounts with companies such as building supply stores. This will enable you to save money, get into the loop with local tradespersons and other real estate professionals, and build your line of credit. It will also help you establish good bookkeeping, which gives you a sound basis for business decisions on your properties. I suggest keeping a daily log for your expenses. You’ll be glad you did when you’re doing your recording keeping, and at tax time.
  7. Borrow money for your investments. You can use banks, 50/50 partners, or private individuals. When you use seller-assisted financing, creative financing terms are often possible, such as shared future appreciation on the property or no-money-down deals.

In summary, decide what you’d like to do, and ensure that you have the proper knowledge and formula for success to make it happen. Remember that nothing at all happens for you unless you take action, so why not get started on your dream today?

Your partner in prosperity,

Dr. Albert Lowry

The Solution to the Investment Guru Gap

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By Russ Keith

How did you get started in real estate investing?

Maybe someone else…a friend, family member…or even your spouse, was bitten by the property investing bug and you caught it.

Or maybe you were invited to a weekend property investing seminar and found yourself thrilled with all of the prospects for financial freedom that property investing holds.

There’s no doubt about it…investing in real estate can be a real life changer, but what happens when all of the energy and excitement you felt after the seminar begins to fade?

After all, investing in property is no cakewalk…if it were, everyone in the world would be doing it.

And as fun and educational as a property seminar can be, what happens when everyone packs up and goes home, and you’re left with the feeling of “what now?”

Maybe you start by watching the videos on the guru’s website. But what happens if confusion begins to set in after watching them? Or maybe you understand what you need to do, but you can’t get answers to specific questions about your market.

What do you do then?

More than just an education in investing

Through their investment meetup group called Crush It, REI Systems Academy founders Russ Keith and his wife Kim noticed a trend.

Some investors would come to the meetings for about 8 months or so, but then would simply disappear. When Russ called them up to find out how they were doing, he discovered these investors had run out of money or just got frustrated, disheartened and then quit.

When he drilled down further into what was going on, Russ discovered that once the “new” had worn off from the investment seminars these people had attended, they were left without a compass.

The videos, website and other material left by the property investing guru couldn’t really help the investors with the mental shift they needed to move from an “employee”  to a “business owner” mindset.

Nor could it address the particulars of the investors’ marketplace.

Filling the guru gap

REI Systems was created with the goal of filling in the gap between the education investors receive at property seminars and the day to day investment decisions every investor needs to make.

What makes REI Systems different?

Investors receive a real education in property investing, from real educators who have been teaching high school and university level students for more than two decades!

Russ and Kim have also flipped properties for nearly 30 years, earning between $14,000 and $80,000 profit on each homestead flip. 

How does it work?

You’ll meet with Russ and up to 9 other investors in a classroom setting once a week for three hours over a 16 week period. At the end of each class you’ll be given homework and told what to do, step by step.

If you have any questions between sessions, Russ is always available to help. He’ll answer your question(s) and if he thinks it can help the rest of the class he’ll share the information with them at the next class.

When you begin putting your knowledge to the test, Russ will be there every step of the way. He’ll even walk with you as you inspect a potential investment property.

In fact, if Russ hasn’t heard from you in a while you can expect to receive a phone call to find out what’s going on.

Your success is that important!

Bottom line, you can pay tens of thousand of dollars for one 30 minute call a week and a bunch of videos with a travelling investment guru, or spend much, much less and be mentored by local investors – and educators – who know the market and know what it takes to succeed in that market.

It’s your call.

 

 

Are There Too Many Lawyers in the United States?

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By Randy Hughes, Mr. Land Trust

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said, “…there are too many lawyers in the United States…” He went on to say, “I do not mean to criticize lawyers, just the need for so many lawyers. Lawyers do not dig ditches or build buildings. When a society requires such a large number of its best minds to conduct the unproductive enterprise of the law, something is wrong with the legal system.”

Something is definitely wrong with our legal system and everyone in America knows it. What does this have to do with real estate and using Land Trusts to hold title to investment real estate… a lot. I think that lawyers serve a valuable service to our society. In fact, I use a lawyer in every one of my real estate transactions (to protect my interest with an insured closing). But, Justice Scalia has a point.

Some say that there are more lawyers in law school right now than current practicing attorneys. And that the United States has 95% of the lawyers in the world! The Illinois Bar Journal says that over the next ten years the USA will graduate 60% more lawyers than there will be legal jobs available to them.  How are all these multitude of lawyers going to make a living?

I predict that lawyers are going to find new and creative ways of suing people like us (real estate investors). After all, real estate investors hold title to hard assets. Lawyers want to know that they can collect after winning a lawsuit against someone. Therefore, real estate investors that hold title to their investments in their own name are easy prey for the contingency fee lawyer.

Legal theory has progressed exponentially in the last few years. Who would ever think that a business owner would be sued because a burglar sustained injury while breaking into the owner’s business? Or that a manufacturer would be sued because he failed to warn a consumer not to drink battery acid? Or that a real estate owner would be responsible for dog bite on his property (the dog was not the property owner’s or his tenant’s dog and the person bit was not the property owner’s tenant).

With the legal system reeling out of control it would behoove you to find a way to avoid being a target. The best way to avoid lawsuits is to have no assets (or at least appear to have no assets). Keep a low profile and don’t own ANYTHING in your own personal name (especially not real estate)!

Lawyers did not get through law school by being stupid. Any good lawyer (when deciding whether to take on a new case) will investigate the assets of the proposed defendant. A smart lawyer will only take on cases that he/she feels confident that he/she can win AND COLLECT ON! Therefore, one of the first steps a lawyer takes prior to filing a lawsuit is to check the public records to see if the potential defendant has any “hard assets” (i.e. real estate).

So, your first line of defense is privacy of ownership. And, if you are a smart real estate investor, the least expensive form of privacy is the use of a Trust to hold title to your investments. Please learn all you can about Land Trusts and how to use them. You will be glad you did!

Randy Hughes, Mr. Land Trust

If you want to learn more about the wonderful world of trusts, please go to: www.landtrustsmadesimple.com for more information. Or, if you would like to attend one of my FREE Land Trust Webinars, go to: www.landtrustwebinar.com/411 Also, feel free to call me with any questions. I actually answer my phone! 1-866-696-7347

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