Confusing Definitions

Elitism has taken on a negative connotation over the last twenty-five years. Today many people flippantly use it as an insult (as if being an elitist or even subscribing to an elitist belief were as bad as being a racist). Elitism is viewed negatively by two groups. The first group is the majority of the anti elites. They confuse Elitism with discrimination. This group of anti-elites are simply anti-discrimination and not really anti-elitist. They have had trouble defining terms. Let's get clear on some terms so that the first group can change their attitude about "Elitism".

I have learned to enjoy reading and writing despite my public school background. (Perhaps my poor grammar and poor writing style betray my poor education). Ultimately, I blame myself for being such an unambitious and uninterested kid. However, I am unwilling to ignore the lack of intellectual stimulation offered in my K-12 experiences. Most of my time was spent pretending to pay attention to the ramblings of a teacher repeating for the third time a concept one can learn from watching a cartoon.

Self-Help can basically be divided into five general categories. Each category represents a substantive philosophy defining Happiness/Ethics/Epistemology/Theology/Politics. Maybe some self-help isn't informed by any of the five. However, as a general rule you can bet that the self-help you are reading or not wanting to read comes from one of these five school's of thought.

1. Secular Humanism

I just finished reading Godin's Meatball Sundae. I have read All Marketers Are Liars, The Purple Cow, Free Prize Inside, The Dip, and of course Meatball Sundae. Here are the 5 take home ideas that I learned from Godin:

1. People don't want to change their mind. It is far more profitable to tell someone something they want to hear, then, to convince them against their will. Instead of marketing an uphill battle, market to people who already want to believe you.

Learn the easiest way to create a great tenant. It's all about keeping them happy and being nice! It’s really that simple... be nice, be fair, be generous. If you take one step, your tenant will probably take three.

Steps
Going the extra mile. If you want your tenants to go the extra mile for you, you have to go there for them first!

Set a fair rent; don’t rip your tenants off. It’s OK to charge above market rent if your property is above market value, but otherwise don’t overcharge or you’ll build resentment.

Something that has always bothered me about the attitude of some of the self-help industry is that it encourages everyone to pretend indefinitely. It’s the attitude that all mankind can achieve all things. If you aren’t achieving all things then you must not be saying it in front of the mirror enough. The more that I look at the injustice and inequality of life, the more I find this attitude towards the less fortunate naive. I am reading a couple of books that seem to help clarify some of the disadvantages which prevent people from becoming successful.

I have decided to start logging my daily real estate sales experiences. I spend most of my work time knocking doors of potential motivated sellers. I get their names from foreclosure lists compiled from the courthouse’s database. Foreclosure lists seem to be an effective way to locate motivated sellers because those on it with equity have a limited time frame to liquidate their equity.

I spend most of my day searching for motivated sellers willing to work with my terms. Today I ran into a “for sale by owner� property which is asking for $393,000 for his house. I discovered that he has had 2 other properties, which have gone through foreclosure in the last year. I decided that I would make him a $333,000 cash offer. I haven’t heard back from him yet. I anticipate him telling me that he has received several offers and that he will sell it at full price in “this market�. I will agree that his possibility for selling exist and explain that we are creating a safety net offer in case the auction creeps up on him. I anticipate keeping in touch with him and if he happens to not find a buyer within the next 6 weeks than he always can use me as a second option.

Yesterday I was able to find some better resources online. Turns out that for this area there are three good online resources I've found so far. The first one I found a couple days ago--an MLS system called REIN that lets you view listings online and subscribe to get updates when new listings come out. I don't know yet what the deal with it is--if it's the full MLS, how often it's updated etc. etc. Yesterday I also found the "normal" classifieds for the two major newspapers online where FSBO's (for sale by owner) are listed and where realtors advertise. It was kind of a maze to find them online since I kept getting redirected to the REIN system.

Personal growth, to a large extent, is limited to self-awareness. I can only change what I recognize. Self-awareness is not as simple as it seems. It requires several skills that have to be developed.

Here is a list of skills and virtues, which enhance someone’s ability to be self-aware.

1. Honesty- until a person is willing to accept the truth about themselves, he will miss the mark as to where he should focus on changing himself.

I don't plan on posting an update every day on this, but I thought I'd list what I did today:

• I bought a map of the area to mark where I've been and what houses I've looked at. I'll use this to get a feel for property values and rental prices.
• I read chapter four on real estate in Multiple Streams of Income to get some ideas on how to finance the property once I find it. The chapter also had some cool charts with questions to ask sellers and a way to rate properties on investment potential.