Lori Greymont with Summit Assets Group Shares Inside Tips!
I
what I learned growing up.
love real estate. It
Since my early days, I have
is part of who I am.
since founded a nationwide
When I was a child,
real estate turnkey invest-
ment company that since
we would move into
2010 has bought and sold
the “broken house” fix it
over 1600 homes. My rehab-
and then eventually sell
bing experience has grown to
Lori Greymont
it and do it again. My
now where we successfully
rehab
remotely,
up to hundreds each year.
mother was the queen of creative
financing. She didn’t have credit
Some people ask if I have ever failed.
or employment after my parents
That depends! If by failure, you mean
losing money? Yes, I have lost money,
divorced, but that didn’t stop
lots of money. But I stay in the game. As
her. She was determined to raise
Warren Buffet puts it “Just make sure
her children in a house, so she
your wins are bigger than your losses!”
found someone that would carry
If you are investing in real estate and you
plan on only doing 1 deal. You have a
the financing- contract for deed.
good chance of failure. If you plan on do-
After the house was fixed, she
ing 10 deals, you can win 8 out of 10 of
wanted to move to a new town
those deals and be well ahead even with
and she found someone willing
two losses. My point on this is don’t go
into real estate tepidly, as though you are
trade houses straight up. Each
move meant rehab for us, but we testing the water. If you do, it probably
will not feel good and you will be done
loved it. As I look back, I realize
prematurely.
my mom was my first mentor in
If by failure, you mean buying the wrong
many ways more than business.
As a college student, I ventured out on
my own- I purchased my first home for
$40,000. It was a HUD program with
$500 down (my interest rate was 21%!)
and I qualified for the loan using rental
income from the house I was trying to
buy since I was an unemployed college
student. This was on the advice and
counsel of my mom, of course! I was able
to rent out the basement after we turned
it into an apartment. I didn’t stop there, it
was a 3 bedroom house and I only needed
1, so I rented out the other two rooms
also. Now mind you, this house was only
4 blocks from the university, so it was
easy to rent out and for top dollar. That
was when I fell in love with cash flow! I
became a student of my mother, applying
Realty411Guide.com
house or paying too much? Yes, I have
done both. One of the defense mecha-
nisms we do as humans is we don’t want
people to think we are stupid (we don’t
want ourselves to think that either) so
we justify why we thought something
was a good idea. Let’s say you bought a
house and thought the rehab would only
be $10,000. Somehow an inspection was
missed and after you own the house, you
find out there is structural issue that will
cost more than $25,000. This cost plus
the rehab will cause you to sell at a loss.
First and foremost, don’t justify the pur-
chase. I have heard investors say things
like, “I am ok losing money because I am
getting experience.” Never be ok with
losing money. That sucks! Instead realize
that you made a mistake and admit it.
PAGE 55 • 2014
Then let go of it. Continuing to con-
demn yourself wastes precious energy
you need to create more income. The
next step is to create a system to pre-
vent this same mistake from happening
again. Then, determine if you can sell
the house now and if so, for how much?
If you do fix it, how much will you sell
it for? Choose the path of the smallest
loss. If they are similar, ALWAYS take
the “now” option so you can employ
your resources (time, money, energy)
into a profit making property in the
fastest time possible. Lastly, don’t
blame others. That doesn’t solve the
problem and people start to think twice
about doing business with you be-
cause they don’t want to be blamed for
your decision making abilities or lack
thereof. I quickly admit my mistakes.
I don’t throw any more money at it to
try and save it if it doesn’t make sense.
I create a liquidation plan and move on.
Sometimes my liquidation plan means I
have to find another deal to get the short
fall to sell the deal I am losing money
on. I want to invest my resources (time,
money, energy) on a new deal that will
make money and cut my losses as quick
as possible.
My true definition of failure has
nothing to do with losing money. To
me, Failure is not trying or giving up.
If you ask me if I have failed and we
use my definition? Then my answer is
“No, I have not failed.” But, there is
only one reason that I haven’t. Have I
wanted to quit? Yes, at least a thousand
times. Have I not wanted to make that
“All important but intimidating phone
call?” Yes, at least a thousand times.
There is only one reason I am still in
business, it is my secret weapon. I have
mentors. Yes, that is plural. I invest tens
Continued on pg. 101
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Finding a Mentor