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Cinco De Mayo

May 5, 2011

One of the things that I love about living in Los Angeles is that there is so much celebration about almost anything and everyone.

In real estate we celebrate when we have a closed transaction. But we should always remember to celebrate during the whole process from making the offer to inspecting a property, to putting it into escrow and yes to casing the check after escrow closes.

I believe a good way to be able to celebrate more closings in by leading your real estate business, as exactly that, a business. You would be surprised as to how most people approach their real estate investing endeavors. Most people do to get focused, organized, and have no system in place to follow. You can succeed at any of the market opportunities at hand, be it REO’s, short sales. note buying, or even one of my favorites- Probate.

In probate and in real estate, it’s about clearly developing a strategy that’s backed by a step-by-step proven plan. In the up-coming weeks, I will share some information with you to help you get your business up and running fast!

So stay tuned.

To your success,
Ernie Vargas

P.S. One on the secrets to attracting more successful results is by simply having fun and finding enjoyment in what you do within your real estate and probate market.

P.P.S. Over the next few weeks, I plan on Purposely having fun sharing this information and I hope you do too.

Posted in Probate Business | Comments (0)

Post Easter Probate Story

April 25, 2011

Hi all,

I have been real busy in the last few months so I haven’t been as diligent with my posts as I would like to be. Yesterday was Easter Sunday and as I was speaking with a family at church, they were telling me about how their father was especially missed this time of the year since his death. Nevertheless, they were also pretty grateful that he lived a full life and now it was his time to rest. Then they mentioned how he left them his house which was free and clear of any liens and all of the contents of that property. They were happy to receive a valuable inheritance as that, yet they were so miserable because they live in California and yet the house is in Tennessee. Boy, what a time burden this probate process has been for them. They said that all they want is to sell it and get it over with as soon as possible but they don’t have the time to interview real estate agents or to deal with the commute back and forth to Tennessee. I was surprised that nobody had contacted them to purchase that property. But I guess it shouldn’t surprise me because most investors and agents don’t know anything about contacting these types of service-needing sellers. I mentioned to them that they could just sell that property to an investor in that area that would pay them all cash and eliminate all their troubles within weeks.

Needless to say, they were real happy with me.

That conversation really got me to thinking about you, the investor and how important it is that I share this probate niche so that you too can become a service provider to your local probate community.

Anyways hope your Easter was wonderful.

Posted in Probate | Comments (0)

Goal Setting

January 13, 2011

Setting goals is exactly like mapping out directions to a travel destination. You first have to know where you are going. Next, why are you going there, what do you hope to accomplish by getting there? Next, which route will you take, the most direct route or the scenic route? How will you get there, which vehicle? When do you want to get there? It is exactly the same for your personal and professional life and it doesn’t only refer to financial goals.

There are many areas in our lives that are important. Money is one of those areas but even that can be broken up into passive income, savings, and monthly budget income. Sometime, we kid ourselves into thinking that we don’t need to know how much we need and we just spend. When you have a goal, you begin to put your life into perspective and into categories of importance or priorities.

Health, time with loved ones/ family, business networks, friendships, spiritual, hobby time, and personal growth are some of the important areas in our life. We tend to focus on some and neglect others.

Also, remember that goals in each area have short term and long term goals. Short term goals usually taking 1- 12 months time to achieve and long term being described in years before they are reached. You should have both in each area.

While setting goals can be set at any time in our life and should be revised often as priorities change and goals are met, the beginning of the year is always a great place to start since it is a new beginning.

When you begin to think about goal setting, take into account where you want to go. For example, in health you may choose to set a goal for losing weight or doing more exercise or eating better. While these are the beginning of goals, if you remember it is much like planning a trip. It’s not enough to say you want to go somewhere, you must plan how you wish to get there, what actions need to happen, why is it important, and by when do you want to get there? If you want to lose 20 pounds, but you don’t plan how you are going to do it whether eating better or exercising or both and you set your goal to be completed in 1 month; you are setting yourself up for failure. One, you haven’t mapped out how you will meet your goal, two you haven’t made it personal by explaining and justifying why it’s important, and three you set an unrealistic time frame in which to make it happen.

A more realistic goal would be: I plan to lose 20 pounds by May 15, 2011. I will do aerobic exercise three times a week for 30 minutes and strength training twice a week for 30 minutes. In addition, I will make healthier choices by picking whole grains over white grains and by eating at least 4 servings of vegetables and 2 servings of fruit a day. It is important that I reach this goal so that I will live longer for my family and so that I will have healthy triglyceride levels.

I know it sounds like a lot of thought but if you don’t map out the details you won’t come close to hitting your goal, you might even go so far as to not do anything at all to achieve your goal.