Do you like broken things? The old saying is that even a broke clock is right twice a day. We must not get used to relationships, business, ourselves and our lives being broken. Broken things can still work but improperly. If a car is not aligned it will still run but the tires won’t last as long and the car will always pull right or left. Driving straight requires more effort when the car is not aligned properly. Take the time to put your “car” in the shop to get a proper alignment. For some of us we need a spiritual alignment, others it is a business alignment and some others require a relationship alignment. Don’t settle for broken things.AH 

Today is mother’s day. Mom this post is for you. I would like to acknowledge my mom. She has provided a limitless amount of support to me in my life. I will include a reference to all the typical accolades about moms because my mom has that down. What I would like to acknowledge most is the daily quiet prayers that my mother says for me. While I was in college, my mom would tell me that she prayed for me “everyday.” I know that she has continued that practice every day since. While I am dealing with something the Lord will remind me that my mom is praying for me. She does not pray for me to be something that I am not but for me to walk in the way of the Lord. What I want everyone to know about my mom is that she is an intercessor for me. She puts herself into the spiritual battlefield for me. While most mothers put requirements on their kids to be something they are not, my mom opens the supply lines of encouragement, hope, support, love and character. These supply lines can get closed by the challenges of life and the “troops” on the front line can end up starving from low “ammunition.” Mom, I love you for praying and interceding for me thus keeping me stocked with plenty of ammunition to live my life.  Happy Mothers Day.Albert 

Email, Fax, IM, letters. Can you pick the one that is not like the others?I will help you letters. These forms of data transfer can fall into two categories communication and information. There is a distinction between these things. Communication requires the other party to hear, listen and feel what the communicator is conveying. If you are informing someone then email, fax, IM are acceptable formats but they do not allow the intangible emotions, inflections and tones that talking to someone can afford. Letters are very formal and if you want to set an expectation with someone send a letter. Black ink against the white piece of paper provides permanence that electronic media cannot establish. If you want to communicate talk to someone. If you want to inform someone then use email, fax or im. If you want to establish something with someone put it in a letter. Remember the difference between communicating and informing.AH 

Choice is doing something with complete abandonment of the preconceived notions that hold us back. 

I have agreed to speak at an academic awards banquet on May 19th at my high school. At 5:05am, I was struck with what I would like to say to these young achievers. I want to tell them that most of the information that they have learned is useless. All the studying they have endured of math, English, dates, concepts and history is useless in and of itself. Have you actually learned from it? That is the question I want to throw in their face. Have they learned that their parents are probably right or have they learned that their parents are completely wrong?In other words, if you have read Shakespeare’s Hamlet and you know “What a piece of work is man” as a quote but you don’t know what Shakespeare was really talking about then you have missed the point of learning. Studying for a perfect SOL test or a 5 on the AP does not prove that you have learned anything. Shakespeare, Galileo and the other masters of the past explored uncharted territory trying to give us a map to answers that although feeble yet brilliant are merely suggestions to questions only God answers.  If the student has learned the old answers but is too scared to come up with new answers then the student has achieved conformity and nothing else.I would also like to tell them that they should be careful not to consider high school the peak. It is really just the start. It is up to them to formulate a new dream because the sand in this hour glass has emptied. Learning something about yourself and the world around you every day is the best remedy for taking your life too seriously. At 5:07am I realized that talk would be too existential.  I should just read a Dr. Seuss Poem and eat my chicken slyly holding inside my head the irony of life.  ”What a piece of work is man.”AH 

Sportscenter is the Eight Wonder of the World. I live in a house where sports are looked down upon. Fortunately for my family, I am not a huge sports fanatic but I think there would be constant family strife if Sportscenter did not exist. I wait for early Monday morning like a kid on Christmas Eve. I don’t worry about the missed games, moments, or information because I know that early Monday morning I am going to be able to watch and listen to everything without the interruptions of my family asking to watch the DVR of Dancing with the Stars. My boys at the desk are going to walk me through sports highlights - each clip a gift that I get to see unfold without interruption. Christmas comes every Monday morning. Thank you Sportscenter.AH 

I am not a man. If you looked at me you would think, “That is an overweight, middle aged, slightly insane man.” In reality I am a child. Here is why. A man does not play video games in the afternoon during his lunch break. A man does not hide during that hour to play a child’s video game. A man does not put his Blackberry next to the game console awaiting a call from a client to discuss the transaction the client is hoping to complete. Contrast is an understatement. I am a managing partner and a “successful” entrepreneur and I spent my lunch hour yesterday playing Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare by myself. Some might say that is sad. Others might say that it is immature. Here is what the Managing Partner Entreprenuer calls it  - An executive training Session in Team Building and Decision making analysis.  Anyone want to play?AH 

A car was a warranty such as a 5 year or 100,000 miles whichever occurs first. In other words, if the car makes it 5 years then the warranty expires if the 100k mile mark has not been achieved. If you drive that car into the ground and hit 100k miles in the first 3 years your warranty is void. I think I have hit my 100k miles because I am falling apart. My knees are moving but they are operating with torn acls and other ligament damage. My big toe attracted a celulitus infection which sounds like a plant disease and my right wrist is experiencing pain when I turn it. What is happening? My wife has always said that I am a little old man (she has said this to me since I was 15) so maybe my 100k warranty has been reached. I feel like an old Honda Accord with mismatched hub caps. The car still working but it is not pretty. Another thought is that my body is catching up with my mind. I have always felt old so at 35 maybe the two are converging. When my wife goes to the store I am going to tell her to some Depends just in case I get in a jam. It is tough getting old. AH 

Business has a fine line between emotionless action and dynamic production. This line must be clearer the more employees in the business. Employees require the predictability of systems so that time wasting indecision is eliminated therefore increasing profitability. Owners should create predictable outcomes given a future set of scenarios which allow for quicker decisions to run the business more efficiently. Another systems by-product is the affect it has on the employee’s feeling of empowerment and ownership in the overall purpose of the business. If an employee does not know the next step or if the next step changes on a whim then gross inefficiencies are created within an organization. An employee is left impotent and disengaged about his or her contribution to the greater good. Systems should allow for intelligent decisions to accomplish the ethos, pathos and purpose of the business without yielding to the “This is the way I do it” entrenching of employee entitlement. Systems should yield a clear path from start to finish while integrating all the necessary parts of your business from the receptionist to the janitor.  AH 

My wife is celebrating her 35 years on the planet on Sunday. She is one of the unsung heroes in the world. I sincerely believe that her best hopes, dreams and accomplishments are bottled up inside her. I will spend a lifetime waiting for them to overflow and cascade over the lucky ones who get to spend time with her. I have known her for a lifetime it seems now but I am always suprised when she lets me in to tour her mind. You won’t find a more clear, positive and hopeful place. My greatest joy has been her humor, candor, class, beauty, grace and wisdom. Most of the people focus on me because I am the loud mouth or the Horshack of the crowd. On my best day I could not compare to my lovely and incredible wife. I love her and count it all blessing for being able to experience her life. Happy Birthday Amy.

Everyone has 24 hours in a day. What I struggle with is making the right choices on what things to spend my time on so that results are generated exponentially. I experience a tremendous amount of guilt when my time is wasted. In other words when something new I am working on does not bring home the bacon for my wife and kids then I could look at this as a waste of time. I am trying to build a legacy for them but if I am not here now what good does all this work do if I am not here to spend time with them and enjoy it. Caution! Warning! You can’t get time back - it is precious. Don’t waste time.
AH

WARNING! Don’t get caught up in the hype of short sales. When a bank is moving a house by taking less on the mortgage than what is owed this is a short sale. Seller receives no funds and many times the only person that benefits is a owner occupying buyer. Investors are getting in the game but before you get into a short sale you better have the buyer ready to go or an exit strategy that assumes a flat appreciation for the next 2 years.AH 

Real Estate flips are the most challenging of real estate projects. First they require a very detailed analysis of the cost of repairs. Second, they require management to guarantee that the budget stays on track. Third, the repairs will always be more than you expected. Fourth, the word flip assumes that their is someone to catch it once you flip it. Market times must be included in all analysis. I suggest you use 12 months of carrying costs and 5% seller concessions to give you a conservative rate of return and a realistic project cost.AH 

My mentor, Marc Overman, recently gave a talk about the need for changes in traditional retirement planning. Check out is blog insanemoney.com.He advised that any form of retirement planning in the 21st century required an “active educated risk manager” versus the static ignorant risk avoider. He also advocated a self-managed retirement plan. I agree. A largely ignored part of retirement plans is a consistent real estate investment portfolio. In other words, cash savings should continue on a dollar cost average basis but with the seeds of real estate sown in to yield a crop of retirement benefits in the future. An analogy that might help you look at real estate in a new light is what happened to the logging industry. At the turn of the century, logging companies would clear cut acres of land. After years of cutting without a thought of future timber shortages, the idea of replenishment took hold. This is the idea that as logging companies cut they will replant the trees and allow a new crop of trees to grow in the future. In retirement, clear cutting real estate should be replenished by seeds sown and then harvested when the crop is ripe.  Some real estate might be held for 10 or 20 years before it ripens to the point of harvest. Here is the lesson if you are not sowing seeds of real estate to harvest when the crop is ripe then you will be failing to be an active educated risk manager. Go out and sow some seeds.AH 

The following technique is an advanced technique for investors who owners who want to sell to someone who can’t qualify for a loan. Risk in this technique is that you put the property in someone’s name and they file bankruptcy, a judgment is rendered against them and attaches to the property or they go missing. Protect yourself with a power of attorney to be able to convey property if there is a breach of contract. Also, do some investigation of their credit history to see if they would qualify for a bankruptcy.

Here is how you lock your profits, put the person on title and create a win/win for your buyer.

First: You as the owner file a deed of trust and a note to another company that you own so that the profit and equity you want to protect is covered by this lien. You have to do this before adding anyone to title so that it has priority.

Second: After the lien is recorded, you then grant the property to yourself and the person who wants to buy the house. They should pay rent in an amount equal to the projected house payment for them.

Third: Make sure that you collect rent checks not cash from the tenant/owner so that you can show the mortgage company a 12 month payment history.

Fourth: Instead of the tenant/owner purchasing the house, they are going to refinance the home thus paying off your first and second mortgages while simultaneously receiving the remainder of the property interest you held during the 12 months you have been on title together.

You cash out, your loans are paid off, their closing costs are lower because they don’t have to bring the downpayment it is in the house already. Win Win all the way around.

AH

I think the federal government should create FEPA. The Federal Emergency Pet Association so that middle class families can petition for aid when their pets have to go to the vet. I have 3 people that I know that have spent an average of $1416.00 in vet fees in the last week. Money well spent to stop the puking, defecating and urinating caused by a sick pet, however, if the Feds are going to be bailing out people who took out negative amortization loans and stopped paying their mortgages (because of vet bills probably) I think the middle class needs a hand out so that their pooches can receive better health care than their owners receive. Maybe Hillary can add a Universal Pet HealthCare to her platform that way when illegal immigrants come to the United States they can bring their pets. AH 

Banking on the rigidity of a bank is important. One of the most successful techniques for a real estate investor is to create a cash out refinance on a piece of property. I like to buy property no money down. Learning how to do this is information for another post. Here is how it works. You have your banking relationship and now you are getting ready to take title to the property. Before the old seller signs a deed over to you, you ask the seller to sign a deed of trust to a company that you control. This deed of trust is recorded against the property prior to your deed going to record thus creating a second lien on the property for the amount of equity you want to cash out. After the documents are recorded, the bank will typically allow a refinance for up to 80-95% of the cash value of the property. The refinance pays off the old first for the seller and the second to your company thus cashing out of the deal. Make sure your new loan does not create negative cash flow and always leave 20% equity in the deal. AH 

” It requires less character to discover the faults of others than it does to tolerate them.” J. Petit Senn

I have a Stitch coffee cup that my girls bought me in Disney World. Now this cup is not a normal coffee mug. This is a man’s coffee cup. Round and Deep. It has volume not like those Starbuck’s girl cups that are slim, skinny and petite. You know the ones that when you pick them up you can’t get all your fingers into the handle so when you hold it you look like Carson from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. My girls know their daddy and got me a mug that will hold 6, that’s right, 6 cups of coffee. After you hammer one of these mugs in 10 minutes, you can feel the caffeine race through your veins like an 8Ball. Sometimes I look at that mug with Stitch saying, “I hate mornings” and doing his crazy Stitch dance and right there at 5:30am sitting in my fart shorts and soaking in the quiet of familial tranquility I realize what pure joy is. Gifts from my girls that provide simple pure expressions of true manhood.What are you drinking out of?AH