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I've been discussing tenant screening a lot lately, and the subject came up as to whether or not it makes sense to check credit. As you can imagine opinions varied. What do you do?

This is a significant development in the rental market, especially if you rely on Section 8 tenants. I'm glad I have moved away from them over the last year.

This is another one of those "Captain Obvious" reports. After the Apartment Bus Tour last month a couple of offers came in on buildings we looked at that made me realize how important perspective and experience are with respect to pricing offers. And how they are not often easily transferable between different types of real estate investing.

I've been studying sales processes lately, and I picked up a really interesting book on the topic this week. It's called "You Can't Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar". I was surprised how relevant the title was to real estate investors.

What's the first thing that a deal partner or investor is going to ask you when you pitch them on a project? "How am I going to get my money back." So that makes your exit strategy the key to your proposal.

I'm putting together a required reading list for the kids. I have three or four in mind - which one do you suggest?

This is a follow up to the post I did yesterday on the necessity of having rental properties if you have a day job and don't get all the Federal and State income taxes back that you pay. I buy another cash flow property with my windfall. Think about what doing the same thing over the course of several years could do for your retirement - and your legacy?

I want you to stop what you're doing - right now - and go look at your W2 from last year, or your last paycheck for the year if you don't have your W2 yet.

I was listening to one of the talking heads over the weekend on one of the paid programming financial shows. His advice to everyone in 2010? Do nothing. Use the year for "planning". In this time of unprecedented opportunity, all that's all this guy can come up with?

As a follow up, during my long sit down on Friday we talked about various aspects of commercial real estate. He asked about what I had done, then suggested a course of action that blew me away.

I've had about a half dozen people on my list now for a couple of years that I have wanted to sit down with. Since I'm going in a new direction in 2010 I thought that it made sense to talk to those folks because they've already done it. I had my first sit down yesterday - and it went way beyond my expectations.

Do you get emails that say that? I just received the 11th one in the last month. Took me a couple to figure out what that meant.

I attended the January meeting of the Renegade Detroit Investors last evening, and their guest speaker was Bob Norton. Bob's from Michigan and still does a lot of deals here, and last night he talked about where the real estate market here is going.

I keep saying that it's a seminar when it's really more of a conference. Multiple topics, multiple experts, round table discussions and even break-out sessions. And best of all we get to have fun and talk real estate inside on what's likely to be a cold and dreary day. Join us on January 16th. I'll be talking about why 2010 is the year to get your name on an Apartment Deed. This is likely almost full - so get registered if you're not already: http://www.markijlal.com/freeseminar.htm

I just took an application from a tenant prospect that rented two houses from a guy that I talked to two years ago that had planned to take over the real estate world here in metro Detroit. My prospect rented two houses from this guy because he let them both go into foreclosure. The sad thing? This guy called me and asked me my opinion on the first one - and I told him to run in the other direction.

I just took an application from a tenant prospect that rented two houses from a guy that I talked to two years ago that had planned to take over the real estate world here in metro Detroit. My prospect rented two houses from this guy because he let them both go into foreclosure. The sad thing? At the time he was thinking of buying the first one he called me and asked me my opinion - and I told him to run in the other direction. He ignored me.

I attended a mastermind a couple of weeks ago and the program was hot seats. It was both gratifying and humbling to see that all but one of the participants had approached me for advice, or guidance or with questions. So my question to you is - what can I do for you in 2010?

I see it a lot - folks that have to buy an apartment building or do a flip on their own so they can beat their chest and brag - that they did it on their own. Been there done that had the disease. But now I'm cured.

I think the concept of vacation days is the only good idea that ever came out of corporate america. I just love the concept of getting paid for not working! And that's one of the reasons why I never want to have W2 employees. :)

After a very busy weekend I was greeted by a flurry of activity today. Lots of calls and emails from people, some wanting to rent apartments before Christmas and some getting ready for the new year. It's nice to build momemtum, and the year on a very high note, and start 2010 at a full sprint.

My daughter really impressed me when she was deciding whether or not to invest in the apartment building. She had several thousand dollars in savings bonds, so it was a lot of money to her. She ended asking me three pretty simple questions.

The kids cashed in their savings bonds last year when I bought my first apartment building - and they invested their money in the building. Based on their informal surveys, they're the only kids in the school that own an apartment building. :) What a great head start this is for them. They're learning about investing, about compound interest (because we won't let them take their earnings and run!) and they're learning about delayed gratification. And they get to tell everyone they own an apartment building. Heck - most adults can't even say that! LOL

Over the last week or so I've been approached three times by people that wanted to be the money partner with me on flips. I thought that was pretty funny - since I've been focused on acquiring rentals for almost the last two years. By my deep dark secret is that I have done flips - and they have been insanely profitable to the tune of $16-20,000 or more each – not a bad payday for 90-120 days. And with the first time homebuyer incentives it makes even more sense. So I’m going to jump back in and partner with these folks and do a few deals. Because it never hurts to have multiple streams of income!

Are you talking to your family about your business?

This should be the LAST video on the subject for a while. Well I recieved a call from the Mayor directly a couple of days ago - and he seems like a stand-up guy. He can't overturn the Westland Housing Commission no matter how far from their own guidelines they stray. It sounds like HUD is the only way to go. So that's the direction that I'm going to take. My advice is to stay away fron the Westland Housing Commission if you want good tenants. They have zero regard for rental property owners.

My three main priorities - again today - are things that I've never done before. I sometimes wish that I only had routine stuff to do - until I realize that it's all of these new things that are putting money in my pocket. I hope you're experiencing the same discomfort!

Yet another instance where the carrot is more effective than the stick.

I received a letter from the Director of the Westland Housing Commission, Joanne Inglis, stating - get this - that the window that my tenant broke wasn't necessarly the tenant's fault, so therefore they have no obligation to insist that the tenant pay for the repair before they let her move on to another Section 8 subsidized rental unit. I escalated directly to the mayor today to insist that he reverse his director's decision, and I contacted MSHDA to file a formal complaint against the Westland Housing Commission. This is EXACTLY the kind of treatment that made smart property owners refuse to rent to Section 8 renters. And if Westland does not reverse it's decision, I will make it a personal quest to make sure that every rental property owner in the tri-county area learns that they're not an agency that anyone would want to deal with.

Lots of activity this morning in my business - got one rental house back and rented an apartment and showed a second one. It's never dull when you own rental property! The fun is coming up shortly - we're heading out later to cut down our Christmas trees.

Thanks for spending some of your valuable time here. And from my family to yours - Happy Thanksgiving!

I have tried my hardest to work with tenants that are in tough situations. Most still refuse to do what's right, most of those can't see that doing what's right is also in their own best interests. It's a sad message this Thanksgiving week.

Seth Godin is the king of the vanillas. He likes groups that agree about everything and sit around giving group hugs singing kumbyya. I don't. I love conflict. I induce conflict. Conflict is good. Conflict is productive. Conflict is interesting. And the only way anyone learns anything in a discussion is when people disagree on something.

Had a great meeting this morning with a great friend and colleague about raising private equity to buy commercial investment real estate; I'm meeting with my banker this afternoon because they want to host a wine and cheese book signing with me and their high net worth clients; and I'm meeting with another small group of investors this afternoon to talk about raising private equity. So life is great! And then there is Lulu.com. Ugh.

More and more in the workplace I'm seeing activity take the place of accomplishment. We have meetings where nothing gets decided and no conclusions are reached. I'm fighting this in my real estate business as well, and it's a constant battle, because these social media tools can be a waste of productive time if not used effectively.

Although my USC Trojans are having an "off" year on the gridiron, I LOVE the fact that they consider a 3 loss season a complete and utter failure and a "rebuilding" year. Contrast that with the Lions that have been complete and utter failures for 50 years, and they would think that a 3 WIN season was a success. Who would you rather emulate in your business?

The plot thinckens with the Westland Housing Commission tenant. Yesterday I received a fax from someone claiming to be a "paralegal" representing the tenant DEMANDING that I release her from all present and future claims BEFORE she moves. Guess what? The guy who sent the fax was really the pastor of her church!

Finishing is the most important part of the process, because you don't get paid until the job is done.

The Westland Housing Commission is trying to skake out from under their responsibilities as a Section 8 agency. I am not going to let that happen.

It seems like it some times. As a simple question that's outside of "the way that we always do it" and you're met with a blank stare. But the results are worth it if you force the issue.

Seth Godin is a business blog writer who generally speaks to the corporate crowd. I don't always agree with what he writes, mostly because he has a "silicon valley" perspective that's pretty much usless here in the auto industry, but today he wrote about something that is completely relevant, and I say critical, to being a successful and happy rental property owner.

Real Estate is LOCAL! What it is with these national writers? Sitting in their easy chairs in Dubuque and writing articles about other areas based on their "in depth" research using Zillow??

When I visited the Mt Clemens property I realized that Mr Seller was renting out a storage room as a studio, and he had included that revenue in his numbers. I then used those numbers to make my offer. Since it's not practical to plan to re-rent a potentially illegal studio, I re-ran my numbers and as you'd expect, removing that revenue significantly impacted the profitability of the property. And not in a good way.

Why is it that everyone always focuses on cutting expenses when they're in a financial crisis? There are TWO parts to an income statement - expenses and REVENUE. Why not work to make the size of the pie bigger and have an abundance mentality instead of a scarcity mentality?

A good friend asked me how I "found" the time to write my book and have a second one in process. I thought that was a pretty funny question.

An recent incident reminded me of an old coffee commercial on TV.

The news is all good regarding this project. The partnership is full, and I actually had more people express an interest than I could accommodate. The bank is actually anxious to work with us because as the Managing Partner I'm local AND I have experience as an apartment owner and operator. The financing process will be interesting since non-recourse financing is no longer available. If you’d like to get on my email list to hear about the future projects (there may be another one coming up later this month) then send me your email address via FB inbox or email.

This was the apartment that I filmed a couple of weeks ago. Huge difference - thanks to a great contractor - Jason Pilotto of Solution Man - who understands that every day of vacancy is money out of my pocket.

When you get the opportunity to pitch a private investor, you should be well prepared because you may not get a second chance.

There is no magic bullet or seminar that will get you private investors if you HAVE a track record. This is a game of relationships, not strategy. Has your experienced differed? I'd be interested to hear about the results that others have had.

My wife suggested a diabolical and revolutionary course of action to get private investors. Guess what. It worked.