Learning from the pros

Learning From The Pro’s
(before they teach you a lesson)



Have you ever known someone so stubborn they would rather die than admit they were wrong about something? I had an aunt like that.
She was absolutely convinced the moon landing was a fake until the day she died. And every attempt I made to prove otherwise always met with failure.

“ Aunt Gerdy”, I said, ” it was all over TV, they even showed it live when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. How can you still think it was fake?”.

“ Hollywood!”, she snorted,” those Hollywood types could make you think a pig was a jet pilot if they wanted to”.

Now even as a kid, someone living that far out of touch bothered me so I made it my mission to convince her.
A few months after the astronauts returned Nasa sent some of the moon rocks around the country on exhibit.
I decided this was my chance to prove to her she was wrong. She might be able to argue with the TV but she could never argue with the real thing, especially if it was right in front of her.
The day the exhibit opened at the Orlando Planetarium we were there.
“ Now look, Aunt Gerdy”, I said pointing at them with a stern finger,” these are moon rocks. You have to believe it now”.

Squinting through her glasses, she leaned down and said,” If you ask me, those look like the same kind of rocks I got in my backyard”.

“ But they’re not the same kind of rocks”, I said,” they came all the way from the moon”.

“ How do you know?”, she asked with a condescending smile,” You ever been there?”.

After that, I finally gave up.

This was a woman who believed the National Enquirer when it said someone in China had delivered a two headed alien baby that could sing like Dean Martin and make motor boat sounds at the same time but she wouldn’t believe Nasa.

I never quite understood that; but I am sure Bill would have loved her. He is one of those real estate investors I mentioned earlier and he makes money off of people like my Aunt Gerdy everyday. And since I don’t want him making any money off of you, I am going to tell you exactly how he and others like him work.

Bill is what you would call a Pro.

He cruises neighborhood streets the way a card shark cruises poker games. He looks for weakness and when he finds it, he strikes.
He knows most people think they understand real estate the way my Aunt Gerdy thought she understood the moon shot. And he uses that fact to his own advantage.

One day over lunch he told me how he profits from those wrong assumptions. So put away your preconceived notions and pull up a chair. It’s time to learn from a professional.
Unless of course, you are firm in your beliefs and don’t want them changed. If that is the way you feel then you are welcome to stop here. But before you go I want you to call me.

I have some tickets I want to sell you to a concert featuring a two headed guy singing all the old favorites at this years boat show.
Don’t want the tickets?
Then make yourself comfortable and I’ll tell you what he said and later I’ll show you first hand how he works.

“Bill”, I asked,” tell me how you make your money?”.

“ Put it this way”, he said,” I buy houses from people who don’t know what they’ve got and sell them to other people for more than I deserve”.

Now granted, that was not much of an answer. But after a little coaxing he went on.

“I make money off the misconceptions of the average homeowner.” he said,” They are convinced making their house more appealing won’t raise the selling price so they don’t bother.”

That’s true; most homeowners would think Bill was crazy to do what he does. At least until they got a look at his bank account. He will take an average house like yours or mine, work his simple magic then resell it weeks later for a fat profit. And he does it all year long.

He looks through real estate listings daily and always finds a plenty of candidates. And the reason is simple; most people do not believe anything can change what their house will ultimately sell for. And those opinions are as solid as a slab of concrete.

My goal is to break through those opinions and convince you what Bill does is worth the effort. And to do that I am going to give you another example that should convince you.
Now I will admit you have probably never heard of Bill, so I will give you someone you have heard of.

You know those “We Buy Houses” signs you see all over the place?
Those guys do the same thing Bill does, only on a much larger scale.
I had always assumed they were buying from people who were days away from foreclosure. But that isn’t the only thing they look for.
For starters, there are not enough desperate homeowners out there to keep them in business. They want something that is readily available and easy to find. And there are plenty of average houses on the market to choose from.

Making money off the ignorance of others has now become big business and these guys are just one more example. And all they do are the things the average seller won’t do.

None of it is what you would call “Rocket Science”. In fact, it is more common sense than anything else. But regardless of what you call it; it works.
And these guys prove it with every house they sell.
All I have to do is prove it to you.

Okay, let’s get back to lunch.

Bill continued on with what he did and why, but it really all came down to one thing. He understands what the buyers are willing to pay more for and he gives it to them.
It is that simple.

Now I could tell you word for word what Bill said but it would not convince you. After all, just because someone says it doesn’t make it true. The best way to prove it is to let you see it work in a real situation and that is just what I am going to do.

I used everything I learned on my own house and made $30,000 more than I should have. In the following sections I will tell you what I did and why and let you decide for yourself.
But like I said in the title, if you won’t learn from the pros they will eventually teach you a lesson. And they might just teach it to you with your own house.