First off...

Happy New Year!

 

 

One of the things I generally do is that I let my students know some "things" about the year ahead including some personal things about what's going to be transpiring with me for the duration of the year.

 

Before I go into anything, I wanted to bring up a gripe...just because I'm in that type of mood right now.

 

So...a couple of days ago I got rid of my Lincoln Navigator for a few reasons:

 

1)  I started to feel something strange.  I'm not sure if it was guilt or...something.  But I felt like I was committing a crime against the environment for driving around this massive beast just for myself and my little 4 1/2 year old daughter 99% of the time.  It no longer made any type of sense whatsoever.  And it was quite sudden, too.

 

2)  I'm sick of this "status" nonsense and trying to "fit in" with society.  It makes me want to puke just thinking about it lately.  I'm tired of everyone on my neighborhood block having new cars, trying to top one over the other.  It's so...sad, sickening, nauseating, and so far from any kind of spirituality on any level.  And I'm no longer choosing to drive something I really don't care for just to be a "cool dude" in the eyes of someone else.

 

3)  I originally bought the Lincoln Navigator to "show up" my ex-husband right after we split up because he took the other Navigator that was under his name (that I drove all the time).  And what a useless endeavor that was.  (Talk about a spiritually bankrupt decision on my part!)  This was over 2 years ago.  And I needed to change that energy.

 

 

I've always been a fan of Toyota/Lexus products and I haven't had one in a good 5+ years.

 

And it was time to get rid of my Made-in-Detroit gas guzzler that is only beat out by the Hummer beating out my former 11-miles-to-the-gallon beast by 2 miles per gallon.

 

But, honestly, it was time for an energy change all around.  I figured that we are up on 2013, I can get my last tax write-off, and...what the hell?

 

A few days before I traded in the Navigator, my neighbor across the street got a mid-size SUV made by Infiniti.  I was going to get the same model because it has a 3rd row seat which comes in handy when Ronnie and the kids come out in the summer.  But...I didn't want them to think I was copying them and I'm not really big on Infiniti so...I went with a small Lexus SUV instead.

 

All of a sudden, my neighbors across the way started giving me the cold shoulder since I parked my new vehicle in the driveway.  Hmmmm.  My imagination?  Maybe.

 

 

Today my neighbor came up to my door and hands me a gift card.  She says, "Here's the gift card back that you gave us for Christmas.  It was unnecessary."  And walks off.

 

WTF??  What planet am I on?  (And you thought living in a "well off" area was some how better?  Pullleeeezzzeee!  These people are weirdos across the board!)

 

 

I'm thinking about it now and it's...laughable actually.  What can you do when you live on a block that's full of nothing but circus characters trying to one-up each other every day?  Who lives like that?

 

And my neighbors wonder why I don't bother talking to them.

 

Very quickly, I want to go over two (2) things; what to expect for 2013 and what to expect from me:

 

 

Apartment and MHP investing are already heating up.  Mid- to large-size investors are picking up everything they can get their hands on starting this past summer of 2012.  Commercial-commercial is starting to heat up, although not as much.  Investors are looking for stabilized properties that are rehabbed and leased up.

 

This means your Opportunity Opening is with rehab and/or leasing up underperforming properties, namely apartment buildings and MHPs.  Serious investors don't have the time or interest in rehabbing or stabilizing a property in any fashion whatsoever and that can be your niche...and a very profitable one at that.

 

SFRs (both flipping and buy-and-hold) have been hot from the very beginning of 2012 and continue to do so.  Investors are picking up SFRs by the handfuls each with their own different strategies in mind.  Some rehab and flip.  Others are just hanging onto them until the economy gets better with the intention on flipping them later.  Some are buying and leasing them out.  You can get into this game as well because there are too many properties (especially foreclosures) and not enough investors to swoop them all up.  You have all of this year and a good part of next year to make big money with SFRs.

 

Banks are making commercial loans/mortgages much easier to get if you fix your freakin' credit already.  Even residential loans are getting much easier to get.  The government is kicking up FHA loans (for residential) and SBA loans (for commercial) programs, making it extremely easy to get these types of loans.  Just clean up your credit.  And you can do this inside of 6 months if you are consistent with the process.

 

The stock market will struggle this year with its typical emotional roller coaster ups and downs but...who cares?  You shouldn't be putting your assets into the stock market anyway.  Real estate is where it's at, baby!

 

And yes, you can make 2013 the year of your financial independence...but only if you actuallydo something about it.  That means 2013 has to be your year of action!  And this is pretty much your last year where you can get a solid shot at becoming financially independent starting from nothing or near nothing.

 

 

I've been undergoing some massive spiritual and emotional changes over the past 6 months.  I think many of you have noticed.

 

I think the hardest part for the past couple of years is the distance between me and my hubby, Ronnie.

 

Strangely, this past fall, after going through the 5 Stages of Grief and Loss, I finally came toAcceptance.  And it was a long, hard road for me.

 

It was during this time when I decided that my days of training would be coming to an end soon just because it's time for me to focus on different things just to keep my soul and heart expanding. 

 

Somehow I always feel some personal responsibility when a student gets my course in the mail and stuffs it under his bed without ever removing the shrink-wrap.  Even though I've helped thousands of people become successful just in the past few short years, I still focus on those I wish I could help more but couldn't.  And that's the part that bothers me the most.

 

The other part is that I don't ever want to be one of those people who has 20 years of teaching experience when, in reality, I felt like I had 1 year of teaching experience times 20 years.

 

I've sacraficed doing some larger deals, important once-in-a-lifetime projects, and other special endeavors I really wanted to participate in just to keep heading up my Apprenticeship and Mentorship Groups.

 

With that said, I already started limiting my hours of working on training students starting this past summer.  Many of my students began panicking earlier last year when they first learned I'd be shortening my schedule but, rest assured, I didn't disappear nor do I plan on completely disappearing for awhile.

 

In fact, I've committed to all of 2013 to train, guide, and instruct my students.  Just on a more limited schedule.

 

As one of my other businesses is exploding beyond my wildest imagination, I'm taking more time to focus on new types of marketing and product development that is out of my realm of expertise.  And this is exciting for me.  It keeps me passionate about life.

 

I'm also focusing on some new types of real estate investing that I never considered before.  I'm also considering moving one of my companies out of California to a location in the greater Detroit area just because doing business in California sucks ass.

 

Regardless, I'm going to be available for my students all throughout 2013.

 

 

See you at the top!

 

Your mentor,

 

Monica Main

 

P.S.  And after thinking I ditched out my Made-in-Detroit Navigator, I read the paperwork on the Lexus SUV I bought and it was...Made in Detroit at the Toyota plant.

 

Yes, I think I do live in the Twilight Zone because nothing makes any sense anymore.