If You Don’t Play, You Can’t Win

Recently I attended another Real estate Seminar. It was held at an upscale hotel. There  were the usual cast of characters in the room… a cross section of beginners to experienced investors. I saw a number of familiar faces. Folks from the local REIAs were in attendance.  The instructor was upbeat confident and appeared a knowledgeable doer.  He asked the audience 2 telling questions:

1. How many of you are making 10 offers a week?
2. How many of you have a buyers list?

The answers:

1. No one was making 10 offers a week. I doubt the majority  were making 10 offers a year and many were not making 10 offers a month.
2. Two folks admitted to having a buyers list. One individual had 50 on his list, 2 were real buyers. The other individual had 500 on his list, 5 were real buyers.

Several years ago an attorney with an established downtown Atlanta law firm won the lottery. This was an established practitioner with significant income. His winnings were in the millions. When asked to explain his winnings his telling comment was: “You can’t win if you don’t play”.

A friend of mine who buys at the steps on a regular basis bids on things he knows he will not buy, but he is careful to bid up to just below the minimum that the bank will accept (called directed bid). He does this to confuse his competition and to remind the other bidders and bystanders that he is a player.  He gets significant traction out of this and has people bring him opportunities “because he is a player”.

If you don’t have a buyers list and you are not making offers, you are not doing business. You are sitting on the sidelines. You can’t play with the big dogs if you are sitting on the porch.  I know that these are “interesting times”, but they are times of opportunity. The foundation of future fortunes are being made right here, right now.

Too  your success.

Gordon

About the Author: Gordon Catts has a widely diversified real estate background. He has been involved in building, appraisal, title work, and brokerage, as well as training, mentoring and consulting. Gordon has trained thousands of real estate investors nationally, as well as locally in the Greater Atlanta area. Gordon is a long time member of several real estate groups and have been involved in the formation of several local associations.