What do you do all day? Where is your focus? Do you work hard every day and are always busy but don’t seem to ever get much completed? If so, you’re not alone. Many people suffer from the information and technical overload that is so prevalent in today’s society. We are bombarded by news, email, twitter, facebook, blog posts (keep reading this one!), and all sorts of electronic media that takes our attention away from what we should really be doing. Many times these small tasks and interruptions keep us from doing the one thing that could make a significant impact on our business.
I got the following from Brian Tracy’s book, “Eat That Frog”. What he says is that when you get into work in the morning you need to identify the 1 thing that will make the most significant impact on your business. It may not be something that you really want to do but it’s something that will help your business out the most. You need to sit down and complete that task before you move on to anything else, which includes before you talk on the phone, check email, tweet about reading a great blog or update your facebook status. Get the task done then move on to the next task that will make the most significant impact on your business.
Focusing in this manner will force you to complete your most difficult tasks but also the tasks that will create the biggest impact. You’ll then find that you end up fitting in all of the small tasks in about an hour in between the big tasks. A laser like focus is key in these situations because we have so much that can distract us. So many times when you let something small distract you, you end up skipping from small task to small task and eventually forget what you were doing in the first place!
You don’t have to get it perfect right away but make sure that you realize when you’ve gotten off task and lost focus. In this way you will be able to pull yourself back and see where you lost the focus.
What are some techniques that you’ve found keep you on task and focused?
Be a Renegade,
Jared Pomranky
Is the Tax Credit the End of Flipping?
The tax credit is done and the real estate market is out of incentives for buyers. Flippers will soon get stuck with houses they can’t sell just like at the crest of the housing market in 2006-2007.
If you believe that you’ve been listening to too many doomsayers that have probably never taken a chance in their lives.
The title of this article was meant to be an exaggeration to get your attention. The tax credit didn’t drive flipping.
Unless you’re practically giving houses away, people right now aren’t willing to take on a payment they can’t afford, especially with the level of unemployment our economy currently faces. Homebuyers learned that lesson by getting burned with “liar-loans” and pick-a-payment adjustable mortgages that were more like pick-your-poison loans. They got stuck with houses they couldn’t afford once – shame on Wall Street. Getting stuck a second time around – not likely to happen.
The $8k tax credit was also not the incentive the government expected it to be. Do you think someone buying a $500k house would pull the trigger because of the $8k they’d get back from the government? Many real estate agents and flippers are hoping the tax credit get’s extended again. Not going to happen unless sales fall off a cliff. The extension of the tax credit after November 1st of last year has not influenced sales as hoped. So why extend it?
The tax credit did probably give a boost to the lower end of the first-time homebuyer market, but that was pretty much about it. In the Detroit Metro area, I’m talking about houses selling for under $160k. Where did I come up with that number? Well the max tax credit of $8k just so happens to be 5% of $160k. How many flippers & sellers would accept an offer of 95% of their asking price in this market? So, how much of an impact is the $8k tax credit going to have on properties above $160k?
On the other hand, how much of an influence would 10% off a $50k price be? Notice I said 10% and not $8k? That’s because the tax credit was 10% of the sales price up to a max of $8k. From the buyers I’ve spoken to in that price range, most didn’t even know about the tax credit or thought they didn’t qualify!
The sweet spot for tax credit influence on the market was probably the $80-$160k range where homebuyers got the most bang for their buck with it. Given the low mortgage interest rate environment though, I don’t expect any post tax credit hangovers to last long. A 1% interest rate increase on a $150k mortgage means a $95 higher payment. An $8k difference in loan amounts is only $43/month at today’s rates. What homebuyer wouldn’t chose to save $95 over $43 per month?
You can also throw in the fact that buyers couldn’t actually use the tax credit to buy a home! They still had to scrape up at least 3.5% to put down to qualify for an FHA mortgage. The tax credit didn’t factor into that whatsoever as they had to buy a home to qualify to receive it later. Currently, the IRS is hand auditing every tax credit request due to all the fraud. It’s now taking at least 6 months to get the tax credit funds.
So let’s see, what reasons are left to believe the end of the tax credit will be a huge negative on the flipping market?