At the last commercial real estate investing workshop we held in Dallas, Texas, one of our students who attended the very first Commercial workshop came up to the front of the room to share some of his experiences with the group. First and foremost, we want to thank him, his name is Stephen Eaton, for doing that. Stephen was a huge hit with the crowd and after they heard what he was doing with mobile home parks and self-storage unit investing, Stephen couldn’t move in the room without a huddle of interested investors following him around! So, you may have heard that there’s a small group of real estate investors making a killing by accommodating the American public’s propensity to store junk. Stephen was able to put together several deals where he had no money of his own tied up in the deal and capitalize on this American propensity to collect and store. In this post, we’ll explore what he did and whether this is right for you. Exposing the Myths Perception is not always reality and this couldn’t be truer than with self storage. I believe there are false perceptions among the real estate community that keeps investors from diving into the self storage business. Test yourself and see how many of these were embedded in your mind about self storage. Myth #1: There is a self storage facility on every corner. I can’t make money with all of that competition. It’s true, self storage is a business that has grown from out-of-sight garages in industrial areas to modern multi-use facilities. A billion dollar industry has sprung up in the past twenty years all geared toward development and building. There are more than 45,000 facilities nationwide which equates to over 6 square feet of storage for every U.S. citizen. However, there are investors making phenomenal returns even in overbuilt markets. The key is in purchasing an existing facility at the right price based on actual income and increase the cash flow by operating the business effectively and efficiently. Stephen however was able to purchase a property that needed some repair, where rents could be raised almost immediately and repairs were mostly cosmetic. Despite the competition in the busy Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, he was able to purchase and profit from a self-storage facility in a very short amount of time. Myth #2: I either need to build a new facility or buy a newer one to make money. Most people think that self storage buildings must be cheap to build since they are just metal buildings with doors. Yes, they are cheaper to build than most other commercial buildings, but there is much more to developing and building than meets the eye. In most cases, it’s a laborious process that takes months, if not years, to complete. Then all you have is an empty facility with a large debt service. It may take several years to break even and this is definitely not a fast track to success. The smart investors are buying existing, older facilities that are poorly operated and need minor repairs. These properties are not on the radar screen of the big companies and can be picked up at great prices. With these facilities, you often start with a positive cash flow and once the repairs have been made and you operate it professionally, the money really starts rolling in. That’s just what Stephen did. He purchased an older facility that really wasn’t that attractive physically. It was not new and it was not modern, but it had potential just because of that. Stephen has been upgrading the property and installing more modern conveniences that enable him to earn an even faster return on his efforts with the property. Myth #3: It takes a lot of money to get in the self storage business and financing is difficult to obtain. In many cases, you can purchase a 30,000 square feet, 20 year old facility for less than a single-family home in California. Sure, it is going to be more expensive than most rental houses, but financing is extremely easy to obtain. There are an abundance of lenders nationwide who are fighting for self storage loans and will even finance up to 90 percent of the purchase price. Self storage has some of the best loan programs available in the commercial market with great interest rates and terms. It is due to fact that this asset class has the lowest default rate among all commercial real estate types. Stephen actually was able to purchase a property with none of his own money down by using the funds he obtained from a private money lender. You can do exactly the same thing. So, what are the benefits of this type of investment and is it right for you? Now that we’ve dealt with the most common myths that keep investors from looking at self storage, let’s concentrate on the benefits of this business. Once you grasp these strategies, you will begin to understand why few, if any speakers have ever showed up at your real estate club exposing this great investment. Benefit #1: Scale – The powers of numbers…An average size self storage facility has 300 units and let’s say that a 10 x 10 unit rents for $60 per month. I typically increase the monthly rental price by five percent each year at my facilities. So, the $60 unit would increase by $3 to $63 per month. $3 times 300 units will increase the cash flow by $900 per month or $10,800 per year. If there were no increases in expenses, the value of the facility just went up over $100,000 due to a $3 per month rental increase. How many jobs out there allow you to increase your income over $10K and add $100K to your retirement every year? What if you could do this every 8 months instead of annually? Benefit #2: Fees - Better late than never…Late fees are unbelievable in the self storage business. It’s not uncommon for many tenants at my facilities to pay an additional $20 in late fees each month on a $35 per month 5 x 10 rental unit. I have one facility that averages 8 percent of the gross income each month in late fees. This particular property averaged $1,165 per month in 2006 in late fees. Talk about free money and cash flow, it added up to almost $14,000 last year. Not only was it found money (the previous owner didn’t charge late fees), it also increased the value of the property by over $140K. Benefit #3 : Admin Charges – Give them something for FREE and still make money…One of the easiest profit centers to set up in this business, as long as it is done correctly, is the administration fee. I charge every new customer a $15 administration fee, but give them a new, sturdy cylinder lock as a gift. This lock would most likely cost them about $15 if purchased at a local store, but my cost is only $3 since I buy them in bulk. I have very few customers complain about the fee because they feel like they received something of equal value in return. Bottom-line is I make an additional $12 every time someone moves into a unit. At one facility, we get 15 new customers each month which equates to an additional $180 per month in income from administration fees. This adds another $2,160 per year in income and over $20K to the value of the facility. Benefit #4: MULTIPLE Profit Centers – These are only three of more than 30 profit centers that I can generate from a self storage facility. Some of the others include record storage, ebay consignment, mailbox rental, moving supplies, outside RV/boat parking, packing and shipping services, notary services, fax services, copy services and the list is as long as your imagination. Self storage can truly set you free financially and it’s one area where you don’t have to trip over other real estate investors looking for deals. It obviously worked for Stephen, and it is an area that we are planning on getting much more involved in at the beginning of 2011. Related Websites

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Main Street Marketing Machines Review Main Street Marketing Machines Review – Can You Really Make $10,000 – $15,000 Per Month Or Is It Just Another Scam? I received the following e-mail question from someone who asked me just exactly what they would have to do to really make Main Street Marketing Machines work for them and generate $10,000 – $15,000. I wanted to post it up here and show you my answer. This is really what it will take for you to make this work and make you money. There’s a little work involved, no doubt, but because between my bonuses and what MSMM already includes you get a COMPLETE system to make this thing go, the work is really not that hard, not at all technical and can truly be done by anyone who goes through the materials and puts this into practice. Here’s the e-mail and response… —–Original Message—– From: <DELETED FOR PRIVACY> Sent 4/22/2010 10:35:53 AM To: “Roland Frasier” Subject: Re: List Of Businesses That Want To Pay You For Your Help Hi Roland. I met you last year at the Dallas Commercial Paper workshop. I would live to learn how to even make $10,000-$15,000 per month doing this. So many products and so-called gurus selling their stuff. Can you tell me realistcally what it takes to makes this happen??? Sent from my iPhone ————————– My Response Hey Rebecca! How have you been? What’s happening with your commercial real estate investing? Okay, I can actually tell you because I’m doing it myself, and that’s always a good thing to know before you invest in anything. I’m going to go into some detail here, so I hope it’s not more than what you were asking for, but I just want to be sure that you understand exactly what you need to do to really make this work and get what you want from the program if you decide to invest in it.So, let’s start with your question… making $10,000 – $15,000 is totally doable, and here’s exactly what you would need to do to make it happen… 1. Identify some high paying potential client categories that you can market the service to (I’ve already done this so you don’t have to, but think about people who spend a lot on their marketing like attorneys, doctors, plastic surgeons, chiropractors, contractors (painters, plumbers and such), etc.) 2. Use Google’s Adwords Keyword Tool (it’s free and really easy to use) to research the search volume for how many searches for these types of businesses are done on Google each month. (This takes about 20 – 30 minutes) 3. Create a marketing video to get a lead capture site ranked for that niche that you are targeting, say attorneys. (1 hour to create and you’ll need either a Flip or Kodak Zi8 video camera which costs about $200) 4. Submit the video using the Main Street Marketing Machines tools. (This will take about 20 – 30 minutes to do once you’ve gone to the various sites and set up a user name and password. Setting up those accounts (a one time thing) will take you an hour or two if you do it yourself or the MSMM people will do it for you for $97. I set them up myself) 5. Screen capture the results (so you can show them to your prospective clients to prove you can do what you say you can). (This will take 20 – 30 minutes) 6. Shoot your video to pitch your prospects (this will take about 1 hour per market category you want to market to, so say 1 hour to do a pitch video for attorneys). I have a killer pre-done script that you can use for this. 7. Create a sales page (about 1 hour if you work hard on it or less time if you don’t) 8. Send e-mail (send an e-mail to the people in the business of the category that you want to get to hire you. The way you get the leads is to just Google search the keyword you are ranking for, say “San Diego Attorneys” and then go to the top 30 search results, get the e-mails of the people who show up there and then send the e-mails to those people. I can give you the marketing e-mails for this.) 9. Get paid If you go through the materials in the MSMM program (you can do that in about a week if you are focused on it), so that you’re up to speed on how to work Traffic Geyser, I’d say you can very realistically make $10,000 in the first 60 days and then make $10,000 – $15,000 per month after that regularly if you work this 20 hours per week. Of course, you can make a lot more than that, but that would take more effort. I’m so passionate about this product, because I am absolutely certain it works and that the only thing that can hold anyone back from making money with it is just not doing the program. Also, I’m here to answer any questions you have either now or later about this. I’m more than happy to share with you what I’m doing, how I’m using the program and what I’m up to with it. Let me know if I can help or answer anything else. You’re right about all the gurus selling all the stuff. It’s really sad being on the inside and seeing so many of them that are just out to make a buck. I can promise you that Mike Koenigs, the guy behind Main Street Marketing Machines, is truly interested in helping people and that he is not just another guru. He has a killer product and stands behind it and even off the stage, he talks about helping his clients succeed. I don’t promote a ton of products, just the ones I really believe can help people and that I use myself. This is one that I paid full price for and that I use all the time. Better still, it’s one that I’m focusing my attention on right now and over the next several months to use in building my own local search marketing business. Hope that helps and feel free to ask me anything else you like. Cheers, Roland Frasier Main Street Marketing Machines Related Websites

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Real Estate Investing – Are You Ready To Finally Start Making Money With Real Estate? You can buy your first property TODAY for under $10,000 by clicking on the link above! Did you know that most people who study real estate, take expensive workshops and buy all sorts of “how to invest in real estate” products never even buy a single property. That’s just not right, and that’s why Real Estate Profit Coach was created. Rather than teach you what we know, we show you how to do what we actually do! Oh, and that brings up another great point. If you want to learn about real estate investing, doesn’t it make sense to learn from people who are doing it themselves, in their own business? We Are Active Real Estate Investors Unlike many people out there teaching real estate today, we are actively involved in investing in real estate. We provide you with awesome real estate investing information, real estate investor training and how-to information on this site. Just pick the path you want to follow: Click Here To Make Money In Residential Real Estate Investing Real Estate Investing Click Here To Make Money In Commercial Real Estate Investing Commercial Real Estate Investing Click Here To Learn How To Raise Private Money For Real Estate Private Money For Real Estate Related Websites

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