Officer Bruch Says, “Don’t Talk To The Police”.

by Dave Miller

This is in response to the video yesterday of the fast talking attorney telling you to plead the fifth. He tells the classroom to tell all their clients to keep their mouths shut, to plead the fifth. Then half way through the class he turns it over to Officer Bruch for his rebuttal.

Officer Bruch makes the case that he is smarter and better trained than you. He is a professional with all the trick of the trade under his hat. He will win if you talk. Therefore plead the fifth, even if you are innocent.

Officer Bruch’s response. Click here.

If you don’t have the time to hear Officer Bruch out then at least watch this (short clip).

Published in: on December 29, 2011 at 6:10 am  Leave a Comment  
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You Have Committed a Crime – You Just Don’t Know It

by Dave Miller

Did you know you can be convicted of a crime you didn’t commit?

If a police officer wants to ask a few innocent questions about a crime you didn’t commit, is there any harm in talking to an officer? In the clip that follows the police officer was asked if there was ever a time that he talked to a suspect that after the person talked that he thought the person innocent because of what he said. His answer was “no”.

It is well worth any individual’s time to watch this video. The time spent watching this video is minute compared to the cost of a speeding ticket or the time behind bars.

So take the time to enjoy this fast talking, animated attorney talk to his fresh law students. He is fun, exciting and isn’t afraid to say “God bless America”

Here is the clip

Tomorrow I’ll post the police officers rebuttal, well rather, his response. Until then, plead the fifth.

Published in: on December 28, 2011 at 9:42 am  Comments (1)  
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Anne’s Christmas message to you.

  Christmas, 2011

by Anne Miller

Joy to the world and to all of you.

We are all doing well. Fat, flourishing, and in each other’s faces. In good ways and bad. Family life is jolly and messy. How old do you say children have to be before they quit poking each other at the table and generally being ever so much more concerned about themselves than anyone else? How old do you say parents have to be before their love and humility is larger than their wanting things tidy and convenient? I suppose one may as well ask at what age life gets quietly manageable and consistently pleasant. Merrily down the stream and all that, you know. And that would be a foolish question indeed. “Man is born to trouble” says Job, “as the sparks fly upward.”

But that doesn’t mean all of life is trouble. Virgil is 4 months old and quite the sweetest little baby in town. Reminds me of a quote “There is only one beautiful child in all the world and every mother has it.” He sleeps through the night sometimes, but I can’t depend on it yet. The other children love him, but are not yet at the age where they can find the answers when he has problems. He likes my answers well enough but it can get quite interesting when the other children would like some answers, too!

  Lucian just turned two. He’s a sunny little man, strutting around trying to pronounce every word there is. Tractors are his one true love. I’m amazed at how at how boys are attracted to boy stuff like magic. It’s a blast. He developed a whine after Virgil was born and has to this day not regained his equilibrium. And then there’s potty training due any day now. Oh, boy. Another one of life’s pleasures.

  Naomi is four and has started reading. She likes school work (in very small doses) and drawing and coloring and cutting. Our sunroom floor can regularly be found under mounds of paper, tape and snips of ribbon that I’ve donated to the cause. It’s sweet how very old, very boring Christmas ribbon can make them so happy. “Messes are fun to clean up”, I tell myself.

Maria is five and is still the dominant older sister with better ideas than anyone else (including her parents). She spends a lot of time reading, and is getting to the point of doing a good job with the work, I give her cleaning up, sweeping, helping with Lucian, etc. Yes! I’m no longer alone!

Dave is still doing fiberglass but is expecting some significant changes in the new year. He’s planning on hiring another guy in the shop in order to work on getting more sales and also to have more time for the really fun stuff – real estate. He’s done quite a bit as a Realtor the past months and is having a ball. How many people can earn money doing what they enjoy? We feel blessed.

As for me, it’s pretty much business as usual. Fight-splitter, tickle-maker, sippy-filler, hug-getter, that’s me. I’m trying to savor the “little years” of our children, sometimes with better success than other times. I’ve discovered four children are a lot more than three. Mothering, for me, is definitely uphill work. But it’s good work – God’s work. And with His mercy, redemption, and strength, it is full of hope and laughter. Or at least speckled with it.

And may your Christmas be bright!

Anne & all

Related Post written by Anne: A Gross Day at Wal-Mart

Published in: on December 22, 2011 at 8:57 pm  Comments (2)  
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Scrooge or Lazy – What Will You Be Next Week?

by Dave Miller

 

Christmas is fast approaching. The New Year is right behind it. If you don’t perk up it will hit you upside the head and you won’t recover till Jan.

What will you do in the last 10 days of the year?

I’ve noted a few areas of concern in my life and hope they can help you combat any year-end stagnation:

Winding Down

It’s very easy to look at the next few weeks as a winding down period. Somehow we justify a half speed attitude because the year and its goals are about petered out. We look at it as a great time to relax and then hit it real hard next year.

At the very least some serious planning should be done yet this year. It’s like eating one more Christmas cookie while telling yourself you’ll get serious about losing it next year. Don’t wind down to the point of floating through the rest of the year unenthusiastically.

Sandbagging

I have a few projects in the shop that I keep pushing into the New Year and not getting them done right now. I asked myself why. I discovered it was a way to have false security in the future. We are having a great year and so I start to question what next year will hold. Billing the job this year doesn’t seem like it will change much in the numbers for the year but would really give us a nice boost in the first 2 to 3 weeks of next year.

Maybe it’s a faith or confidence thing. Somehow I feel a sense of security knowing that I can do that work in January. What I’ve come to realize is that it’s okay having plenty of work in January but it’s pure foolishness pushing it into next year when it can be done this year.

Being Aggressive Enough

This really echoes the last two items but it is an area where I find myself slacking. In a sales approach I’ve discovered myself slowing down. Somehow I have all of next year for next year’s goals. I’m doing two things to combat this:

  1. Make very specific goals for the last week of the year.
  2. Have a plan formulated for the month of January

I know many people make goals at the beginning of the year. This is good. I recommend it. But I also highly recommend that the goal be broken into very specific action steps. Things to accomplish by today, this week, or by the end of the month. Or better yet, all of those time frames and more.

Conclusion

Am I advocating being a Scrooge and not enjoying the reason for the season? Nope. I’m checking to see if I’ve used the season as an excuse to be unenthusiastic about progress.

What will I do now that I have thought about it? I have a choice. Will I let the reasons to relax overtake the reasons to push for success? No, I will not sit by idle. As I wrote this article it prompted me to start a project I was unwisely sandbagging for January. I just called my father to come by and do some consultation on the building of this new mold. The project is now started and we are better off that for it.

You also have a choice. What will you do?

More posts on planning and taking action:

 

 

 

 

Published in: on December 21, 2011 at 12:30 pm  Leave a Comment  
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End of Year Checklist. (Business owners only)

by Dave Miller

The end of 2011 is fast approaching. Yet there are so many things to finish before the year fades. As a business person I make goals to accomplish, whether mentally or actually writing them down, then December arrives and I think of the things not yet done. I take a good hard look at a few things around this time of the year.

These are things that need to be done in this calendar year or they lose value or importance by next year. I raise questions like how will my tax return look next year and what can I do to improve my situation if I do something this year yet?

E Adrian Van Zelfden wrote an excellent article that every business owner should review it this year yet. Click here.

Here are some of the highlights on the list (for me anyway).

  • How to handle year-end, Christmas bonuses or gifts
  • Year end deposits, purchases and paychecks
  • Business meal expenses and travel expenses
  • Inventory
  • Bookkeeping tricks and traps
  • Credit card statements
  • Insurance

The list is thorough but not exhaustive. Print it. Read it. Add your own items.

December 31 2011 will be here in two weeks. Get done what needs doing before then.

Here is the link again.

Published in: on December 17, 2011 at 11:55 am  Leave a Comment  
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Profiting by thinking of long term

John Schaub recently did an interview for the Herald-Tribune in Sarasota FL. I have previously blogged about John Schaub and his book Building Wealth One House at a Time. Here is a link to the blog I posted a year and a half ago. Click here.

John is a residential real estate investor that has my respect and admiration. He’s low-key but effective. I’ve talked to him on the phone and you’d have thought I was talking to my uncle. He freely shared his advice.

Follow his advice and you are bound to succeed.

Here is a link to the interview. Click here

Published in: on December 12, 2011 at 7:00 pm  Comments (1)  
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Money In Your Pocket – Or Out of Your Pocket

by Dave Miller

When was the last time you looked at your insurance policy? Do  you really know what’s in it?

This week I bought 3 houses and at the last-minute I thought about insurance. With a phone call and a scrambling agent I got the coverage I needed. The downside was that I did not shop around or really think through the details. This is a huge downfall to those of us who wait till the last-minute at times.

So now I’m thinking about insurance. Am I paying too much? Why do I have it? What’s covered?

Here is an article that has helped me.

One cost saver for me is my high deductible. I say insurance is not to cover every little thing rather it’s to keep me from losing my butt. I carry a $5000 deductible, but then I also have high liability coverage.

Check out your policy. Maybe you can save a few dollars. My agent said yesterday that by raising the deductible to $5000 it would probably save me 12%.

Ask your agent questions. Maybe you need better coverage. Shop around if you must but be aware. Be very aware.

Published in: on November 5, 2011 at 7:21 am  Leave a Comment  
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Owner Financing is Legal Again – PA Allows Owner-Occupied Residential Mortgages

by Dave Miller

What was illegal has been reverted; you can once again borrow money from your rich uncle to buy your house. In Pennsylvania, you can participate in private financing deals again.

Our government in its normal state of exaggeration and misappropriation deemed it necessary to make a law regarding mortgages. This was after Wall Street, Fannie and Freddie all really screwed up in the mortgage world. True to form our government went into complete overkill and enacted the S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008. This Act states that an individual who takes a mortgage application and negotiates a residential loan is breaking the law.

This meant that if you asked your rich uncle to loan you $200,000 to buy your house, you were a law-breaker. If you asked the seller to keep money in the house you were buying, that was breaking the law. Residential mortgages were a strict no-no. This was only being regulated for about a year but was creating quite the uproar.

Our government had enacted this law saying they were protecting the people. What they missed was that the people weren’t asking for protection. Besides this law actually did the opposite. When the people wanted money they went to the banks, and the banks were not in the lending mood so they didn’t lend. In times past the people would ask friends, family or the seller for assistance. This kept the bankers in check until their statesmen cronies helped then out by making it illegal.

I’ll try to break this down:

Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act 2008. I’m most certain it’s not fair and secure but they picked the title, not me.

The key here is “loan originator”. They define it as anyone that takes, offers, or negotiates a residential mortgage.

This applies to “residential mortgage loans”. Owner occupied or as they state “personal, family, or household use” is prohibited.

As far as I can tell, commercial mortgages and private loans or any other non-owner-occuppied residential mortgages are legal.

Owner occupied real estate with a mortgage is what is at stake here.

Now the good news.

This month the Pennsylvania Department of Banking has released a letter to clarify what a “mortgage originator” is. Here are the highlighted areas of the letter with my comments:

As a general matter, the Department will begin interpreting the provisions of the existing MLA regarding the definition of “mortgage originator” to the extent possible in a manner consistent with the HUD Regulation.

Comment: the department is interpreting the definition of “mortgage originator”

the Department will not take exception to an individual making or brokering three (3) or less mortgage loans in a calendar year without being licensed as a mortgage originator,

Comment: the department does not view someone as a “mortgage originator” if he is involved in less than 3 residential owner-occupied mortgages.

sellers of dwellings or residential real estate by means of an installment sales contract who engage in such business in a commercial context and habitually and repeatedly are required to be licensed as mortgage lenders and have their employees appropriately licensed as mortgage originators under the MLA.

Comment: installment sales are mortgages.

You can read the entire letter: Click here

 Now I’m not a lawyer or anything close to it so don’t take my word for it. Ask an attorney that can bill you $225 an hour. I spent around 5 hours researching this subject, it’s too bad I can’t bill at that rate.

So here is my take:

You can once again be involved in owner-occupied residential mortgages as long you do not exceed 3 per year. So go ahead and borrow from your rich uncle to buy your home.

Related Blogs:

Published in: on October 31, 2011 at 6:47 pm  Comments (2)  
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Choose What You Want To Learn in Real Estate

We, at Shepherd Real Estate LLC, are offering a few FREE classes this fall.

Our class-room style lectures are structured around real estate investing. The Shepherd Team consists of professionals in Lancaster, PA with experience in real estate. We are investors ourselves and want to help you succeed in your endeavors. The Shepherd Team has a wealth of knowledge to share. In house we have an attorney, a CPA and Realtors all ready to help you.

 We need your help in deciding which classes to offer. Our goal is to give you what is of most value to you. We are conducting a survey to choose to the topics.

Please click through to the survey to make your choice.

Click here to take the survey.

Your response will help us pick the best topics.

Here is a breakdown of the options:

  • Investment Analysis

Crunching the numbers

  • Building your Power Team

Realtor, attorney, insurance agent, consultant, property manager

  • Assets Protection

Entities, insurance

  • Improving Cashflow

Proper management for better cashflow

  • Taxation of Real Property

Structuring your investments to avoid excess taxes

Click here to take the survey.

Thank you for taking the time to complete the survey.

Email me if you want to be notified when we schedule these FREE classes. They will be held at a location to be announced in the Lancaster PA area.

realstreet@frontiernet.net

Published in: on October 21, 2011 at 9:25 am  Comments (1)  
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As Barren Ground Gets So Goes Lackadaisical Investing

by Dave Miller

The bare ground of the empty garden was being overrun by weeds in a short few weeks. So I tilled the ground last night and scattered the Jerry oats. With the dirt knocked loose and the weeds stunned the oat seeds I spread can find a hold and quickly overpower the weeds.

  The seed is planted and has a good chance to grow. No weeds to hinder the growth. Fertile ground to root into. At the sight of the greenness we will see the fruits of the labor, our toil combined with productive soil coming to fruition.

Is neutrality possible? The first law of motion says: The velocity of a body remains constant unless the body is acted upon by an external force. So something at rest stays at rest. Unless an outside force affects it. It stays at rest if nothing affects it, but something is always affecting something.

To invest or not to invest. That is the question.

When I say invest I mean good investing, not the I’m-too-uncertain-so-I-will-stick-it-in-bank flavor of investing.

Good Investing; By making good investments of time, money and knowledge you will grow in confidence and intellect. When you see your seeds multiply, your heart will be happy and content. This is not always easy, it’s work, but it’s rewarding.

Bad Investing; When investments go bad they deflate the morale, they squash and humiliate. Your attitude and life will be affected, like it or not, it just will.

Neutrality; By not investing your money, holding it in cash or putting it in a savings account for ½% interest a year, you are not moving. As Isaac Newton said, a body at rest stays at rest unless affected by an external force. The external force is never at rest. If you are not investing wisely you can go backwards, but if you do not invest, you will also go backwards. Neutrality is not an option. The outside force is in motion and if it is going faster than you then you are going backwards.  

Here a few reasons why “neutral” money holding doesn’t exist.

  • If you invest at a ½% in the bank you are (1) not keeping up with inflation (2) your reward sucks so the incentive to save more is squashed.
  • When sitting on cash you (1) are not keeping up with inflation (2) are prone to spend more than needed because it’s visible and accessible. Money in your pocket has a way of disappearing.
  • Did I mention inflation? According to our government inflation has been around 2% to 3% but has jumped to around 3.75% last month. Now we could spend a whole paper on the inaccuracy of these government statistics but we will let it go for now. Nevertheless, they may be inaccurate but the experts agree they are pushed down, meaning in reality they are higher. So if you are not making in excess of 4% to 5% you are floating backwards. Your money will buy less in the future.

The ground does not like to be barren. It will cover itself. Its default is weeds. So if you choose to sit by idly it will cover itself with weeds. Do I want weeds?  No. I will work, till, and plant to create an environment that allows the ground the produce. Today it’s raining steadily. I smile because I planned and prepared.

Related posts:

Published in: on October 19, 2011 at 5:58 pm  Leave a Comment  
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