How to avoid negotiating blindly…

Many of you are out there seeing fantastic development sites every single day and not knowing how to take the next step or what to do now (unless you have done our development course in which you should all know exactly what to do!).

Finding the site is obviously the most important step – if you don’t have a site, you cant play the game and we need to play the game to get the profits.

So, once you have found a site that you believe is going to work you now need to do your research before you even start talking price. You need to work backwards and work out how much it is going to cost to develop so you can work out how much you are going to pay. Otherwise you are negotiating blindly and giving away your profits.

So once you find out site, follow these steps:

1. contact the council and do some research using “the right tools” to determine what can be built.
2. call 3 architects to further confirm what you may be able to build and what their costs will be.
3. call 3 builders for quotes.
4. call at least 1 engineer (preferably 3) for quotes.
5. do a feasibility study to determine if their is any profit.
6. decide if you will go ahead.
7. determine how to buy the deal, structure it etc.
8. start negotiating

if you have done my development course and you have the mentoring include, at step 6 you can send the feaso to me and I will help you determine if you want to go ahead and do the deal.

So, do the above steps. Let me know if you run into trouble (if you are a mentoring student) and lets make you some money developing!!

Cheers,

CARLY

I just wanted to touch on a point that you should know and remember when doing your feasibilities for your developments.

The interest that you pay on the money that you borrow will be one of your biggest costs and it tends to be a cost that many people forget to counter in.

Even if you are doing a vendor finance deal or a joint venture there will almost always be an aspect of bank or lender finance or someone to whom you are paying interest.

That interest rate could be anywhere from 5-12% or even as high as 20% for some countries or if you are using mezzanine finance. So you need to make sure you don’t forget to calculate the interest component when doing your initial feasibility study.

If you are still using napkins or the backs of envelopes to work out the profits and feasibility – now is the time to graduate to using a more sophisticated method!
By using a feaso calculator you can ensure you are reminded to include all basic costs and that the math is right.

Those of you that have done my development course will have the feasibility software that I gave you in that. Otherwise you can purchase feaso software on the market anywhere from $500 to $50,000. But the $500 ones do the job!

Cheers,

Carly Crutchfield

The deal of a lifetime comes along every week…

One of the most common emails I get is ‘carly, I found this amazing site and the vendor needs to sell it really quickly and I am in a rush”. This is a very dangerous sentence. Because when you are in a rush, you generally forget the small things. And in property development the small things are usually what make the profit. Especially when it comes to structuring the deal.

You need to be cool, calm and collected at all times. You can never be in a rush to purchase a property or do a development and you certainly can not come across as being in a rush – this will throw your negotiating power out the window.

If the real estate agent or the vendor is in a rush, don’t let it effect you. It is probably a ploy to get you to buy quick and think that you are getting a “bargain”. When we see “need a quick sell” we usually think that we will get a good price because the vendor has to sell quickly and will lower the price – but this is not always the case and I know specific cases where properties have been advertised for quick sell simply as a marketing ploy.

I remember seeing a development site for sale in the Sydney Morning Herald last year and it said “urgent sale – motivated vendor must sell now!” or something along those lines. I called up and the selling agent wasn’t in so I spoke to another agent who said “ah, no – no rush to sell it. Just a normal property, when your ready it will be here”! obviously his colleague had not let him in on the marketing “angle”.

You need to remember that there are millions upon millions of properties out there and so many fantastic deals waiting for you to put them together and discover the gold that is sitting in the land.

The deal of a lifetime comes along every single week, so if the one you found this week is making you rush around and forget things. Wait till next week when the next one comes around.

Cheers,

Carly Crutchfield

I saw a fantastic movie recently. INTO THE WILD, a true story based on the book written about the life of a young man who went through school and uni to please his parents and then decided to throw caution and tradition to the wind and he went INTO THE WILD.

The book is phenomenal and for once I can say that the movie does it justice and is just as good.

Its quite a contemplative movie, so don’t watch it expecting any Hollywood plot lines or mission-impossible-action-stunts.

But do yourself a favor and watch it, I guarantee you’ll get something phenomenal out of it.

Cheers, Carly

When I was a teenager dreaming of “what I want to be when I grow up” I never could have imagined where I am today. I had some very grand dreams and ideas – but they didn’t match where I am today and what I am doing. I never would have thought I would be a property developer. I NEVER even thought about being an educator and showing people how to create wealth in their lives. These are things that I never even `they have turned out.

One constant through out my life, I have never, ever put myself in a box. I never thought of myself as being limited to a specific industry, I didn’t carefully plan exactly how things would happen, I haven’t given myself labels and I haven’t tried to follow a very specific path to get a very exact outcome. And if I did box myself in, life would have probably knocked me out.

Those of you who know me know that my life has been quite an adventure with all sorts of vias, craziness, fun, mistakes and successes. And I am thankful for every single via and mistake – because as I type I am really quite happy with my life and where it has led me today. One of the lessons I have learnt from this is that there are some things that you just can not plan. Now my staff will all tell you that I am an organization freak, I love a good plan. But I plan for day to day or week to week. I am not limiting myself to next year because I have learnt that there are things that could happen that are outside of my imagination and beyond what I may think possible. And I have some big thoughts!

But I think that there needs to be an element of surprise, of adventure and there needs to be room to move. Everyday you should be growing, flourishing and prospering. So what you think is “BIG” today may not be so big tomorrow.

Leave yourself some room to absorb the unknown and travel the road less traveled.

An interesting thing happened to me today and it reminded me of an important life lesson. You really never do know what’s going to happen tomorrow. Some years ago now I did some work for a guy. I learnt quite a bit working for him, he is smart guy and had a good business, apart from the fact that I didn’t like working for someone – it was quite enjoyable. When I left he wished me well and supported me, even though he felt he was losing an asset. He saw my viewpoint and backed me up to go achieve my own dreams and goals and I always remember how good he was to me .

Fast forward to today and I get a call from him; he has run into some hard times, needs some money quick and wants to know if I have anything available. I NEVER would have expected this call. But I was absolutely more than happy to do anything I could to help.

This guy built a solid bridge of friendship and trust with me when he was in a position of power and really didn’t need anything from me. Now that the tables have turned and he does need a hand, I’m quite sure he has more than just mine being extended out to him.

He didn’t burn any bridges. He treated people the way he would like to be treated and now it’s paying off.

And it made me think…you really do never know what could happen tomorrow. I am a positive person and I know I will continue to do well in life and I will put my all in to make sure that happens. But you know what, I have seen enough of life to know that anything could happen tomorrow and who knows when I might need to make a phone call like the one my former boss had to make to me.

So work on building bridges, not burning them. And not because you might one day need that person but because that is how you would like to be treated.

I know I’ve spoken a bit about education lately, but it really can be the difference between success and failure. I was talking to my good friend, Dale Beaumont on this very topic. Dale has published 16 books! And you can access them for free through this website. Just search under his name and you will find some fantastic information – I have read 8 of his books and loved them all.

I also asked Dale to write few words on the topic of education and here is what he had to say:

By Dale Beaumont
What is one thing that all successful entrepreneurs have in common? A high-value for self-education.

My book titled: ‘Secrets of Male Entrepreneurs Exposed!’ takes people up-close and personal with sixteen of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs, including: Brad Sugars, Siimon Reynolds, Jim Penman, Phillip Mills, Justin Herald and others. In a surprisingly candid way each contributor shares their own unique wealth strategy and dozens of hints and tips from a culminated 250 years of business experience.

A high failure rate of new businesses can be explained by peoples’ intent to invest more in their business than themselves. Successful entrepreneurs understand the value of self-education and are willing to invest firstly in themselves before they do anything with a business. A major Australian financial institution conducted a study that concluded that business owners who attend just one seminar or training course every year would drastically improve their chances of business success. Findings indicated a 70% improvement is possible by attending a seminar or course in a twelve month period.

Books, CDs, tapes, and seminars are great sources for information and are channels used by entrepreneurs to further their success. In this book they tell their stories in an effort to put an end to the myths and fallacies that surround self-education. The truth is: self-education will help you.

The following five (5) points are the author’s perspective on how self-education can help you achieve success.

1. Invest in yourself

Successful entrepreneurs believe that the best investment in life is education. And it should start with you. They understand the importance of obtaining as much knowledge as you can before investing in your own business. One particular entrepreneur admits to reading more than 930 books and is still reading.

Action International founder, Brad Sugars, says that you should invest in yourself before you invest in a business. You are your business’ best asset.

2. Seek credible resources

The self-help movement has gained momentum in recent times and has seen an influx of material in the market. Some of these materials are more effective than others and will serve different purposes. Successful entrepreneurs are able to execute their gut instinct when seeking out credible resources that aim to inspire and ultimately motivate through the recount of various success stories.

3. Find out what you don’t know

It is impossible for entrepreneurs to be an expert in all areas of their business, especially when starting up. Successful entrepreneurs are aware of their weaknesses and will fill the knowledge gap by seeking out mentors through books, CDs, tapes and seminars.

When Phillip Mills started the Les Mills programs, he admits that he had no skills. His solution: read! He is an obsessive reader of both business and creative texts and will send copies of anything great he reads to the managers in all of his companies. All the information is out there.

4. Make effective decisions

By learning about the success and failure of successful entrepreneurs, you minimise the ‘trial and error’ phase of your business. As such, you can get ahead quicker without wasting as much time and money. Successful entrepreneurs are capable of drawing on information and knowledge in order to make effective decisions. By studying decisions made by other entrepreneurs you can ensure that the same mistake is not made.

Domenic Carosa, destra Corporation co-founder, says that he often makes decisions based on the failures and successes made by other companies. He emphasises the importance of reading and says that you will never know everything.

5. Fuel for instinct

Successful entrepreneurs surround themselves with self-educational resources and being around this information builds the right mentality for success. They access these materials to develop their gut instinct and provide drive - two essential qualities of a successful entrepreneur.

In Summary

Self education is critical to the success of any person. While entrepreneurs trust their instinct, the truth is, they also resort to educational material to ensure they have all the knowledge needed on a particular topic. Myths that dispel education as being irrelevant will lead to failure. For successful people, self-education is the ultimate investment.