Mike Browning

Tag: Investment Property

  • Yes, They Had TVs The Last Time The Cowboys Were In The Super Bowl

    Yes, They Had TVs The Last Time The Cowboys Were In The Super Bowl

    They were even color TVs. Just not HD.

    You have to be pretty old these days to remember it, but there was a time when the Dallas Cowboys were the unquestioned kings of the NFL.

    It can be kind of funny when younger people ask why older people continue to watch and pay so much attention when the team “never wins anything.”

    Habit, I guess.

    That and stubbornness, which is a superpower of mine. Not to mention we’re all sort of pot committed on the deal. We’ve been at it so long that really the only thing to do is keep going. Then on the off chance the team does win again, we can claim to have been behind them all along.

    We can hope anyway.

    I don’t know why it came to mind recently, but I was thinking about something I heard about those early 90s teams. About how, on defense especially, they noticed a market inefficiency which they exploited by prioritizing speed over size.

    Of course every team, including the Cowboys, wanted the athletic freaks. The guys who were huge while also having world-class speed.

    But there aren’t many of those.

    Once you got past them, most teams would look for big guys who might not be quite as fast. The Cowboys decided to go after really fast guys who might be a little undersized.

    Since fewer teams were looking there, they could find better players in that bucket. Not to mention they presented a different challenge than their opponents were used to.

    Or maybe it was just because they had Hall of Fame-level talent at all the key positions, and it didn’t matter so much who was on the back end.

    Either way, it was fun to watch.

    If you’re an investor, you’ve probably noticed it’s harder to find deals in the areas where everyone is already looking.

    You’ve heard the saying about location, location, location.

    Location matters.

    So does basis.

    Everybody already knows where the hottest areas are. And when everybody knows, you tend to pay for it.

    Sometimes I’d rather own something bought right in an outlying area than something I had to overpay for just to be in the fairway.

    That’s part of the reason the Buyer’s Short List covers more than 20 counties in North Texas.

    I look for things that appear to be priced well relative to what’s around them, then start looking for the reason. Most don’t survive that second part.

    When one does, I let the List know.

    No spam. No schedule. Just when something looks worth a closer look.

    They won’t all be a fit for you.

    But is it a bad idea to have someone looking where everybody else isn’t?

    Check It Out Here.

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  • It’s a Short List

    It’s a Short List

    In more ways than one.

    Successful land investing isn’t complicated. You find something underpriced, verify what you’ve got, buy it at the right number, and let time do most of the work.

    Simple. Not easy.

    I recently ran a quick search. Drawing a 60-mile circle around DFW Airport, there were just under 5,000 land listings of one acre or more currently on the market.

    Most aren’t investment opportunities.

    Anyone who’s spent much time looking at land already knows that. Pretty quickly, most people start looking for a better way to sort through the noise.

    Which might lead to joining a few wholesaler text lists. I’m on some myself. I’ve never bought anything from them, but I did make the mistake of asking for more information a few times. It didn’t take long to realize the property wasn’t a fit. The follow-up calls lasted much longer.

    Makes you wish there was a better way.

    Guess what?

    There isn’t a perfect way, but I’ve built a process for filtering thousands of listings down to a handful that deserve a closer look.

    Most get rejected immediately because of something obvious. Floodplain. No access. Bad location. Unrealistic pricing. Some other issue that makes the property unsuitable as an investment.

    You don’t need to hear about those.

    Every so often, though, something survives the first pass. Not necessarily a deal, and not necessarily something I’d buy myself. But interesting enough to warrant a closer look.

    Those are the properties I pay attention to.

    When I find one, I prepare a short report explaining why it caught my eye, what nearby sales suggest, and what I think deserves further investigation. Then I share it with people who have asked to see them.

    No requirement to become an exclusive client. No incessant follow-up. I may check once to make sure you saw the information, but that’s about it.

    Because I’m not a salesman. I’m a filter.

    Be In The Know

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  • No Calculator Required

    No Calculator Required

    I can wade through 90% of it before you even pick up a pencil. Sound interesting?

    There’s a saying you’ll hear a lot in real estate investing: if you need a calculator to determine if something is a deal, it’s not a deal.

    Obviously you need to run financial projections and all that.

    But the point is that a truly good deal will sort of jump off the page at you. It’s clearly priced in a way that makes it appear to be below market, without requiring a spreadsheet.

    Of course, it doesn’t take long being in this business to learn that if something is really cheap, there’s usually a reason.

    Something’s wrong.

    It’s almost totally in the floodplain. It’s got pipeline easements on it that make it look like a spiderweb. It has no road frontage. Or any number of things.

    A lot of times what catches my eye turns out to be something that wouldn’t really be worth owning if they gave it to you. At least not from an investment perspective.

    But not always.

    Every so often I run across something that’s priced low and doesn’t appear to have the usual problems. The sort of thing that makes me stop and look harder.

    And if it’s in an area where I already know someone who would be interested, I usually know who to call. But sometimes it’s in an area where I don’t have someone looking.

    That’s what the Buyer’s Short List is for.

    Covering 21 counties in North Texas, I have a screen that flags newly available or reduced-price listings that are priced low relative to what’s been selling around them.

    Most of them aren’t deals, for the reasons discussed above.

    But every once in a while, one makes it through the first screen and still looks interesting after I dig into it.

    If you’re on the Short List, when that happens you get an email and a chance to see more.

    No schedule. No spam. Just when something makes it through.

    Is it a bad idea to minimize the time you spend looking at bad deals?

    Learn More Here

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  • The Ones You Never Heard About

    The Ones You Never Heard About

    Not every deal I lose track of was a bad one.

    A while back I flagged a property that looked promising. Priced well below recent comps, no obvious defects, decent location. The kind of thing I’d usually already have a home for before I even finished looking at the listing.

    This one, I didn’t.

    I made a couple calls. Nobody was in a spot for it right then. One guy just closed something else. Another was focused on a different area. By the time I got to the third call, somebody else had already put it under contract.

    I never even found out who bought it.

    That’s the part that sticks with me. Not that I lost the deal. I didn’t have a deal to lose. I just didn’t have the right person on the other end of the phone in time.

    It happens more than you’d think.

    Most of what I see isn’t worth a second look. Access, utilities, topography, floodplain, buyer demand, surrounding uses, and a dozen other factors kill most of it before it goes anywhere. But every so often something survives all that, and when it does, it doesn’t wait around.

    The properties that are actually underpriced don’t sit on the market long enough for you to find them on your own. Somebody has to already be looking, already know what you want, and already have your number.

    I think there’s a difference between wanting to hear about a good deal and actually being set up to hear about one.

    If you’re not on my list, you’re not missing out on deals I send. You’re missing out on deals I never get the chance to send, because I didn’t know to call you.

    I’m trying to fix that, one name at a time.

    If you’re an investor and want to be one of the calls I make when something survives the filtering, click below and tell me what you’re looking for.

    No obligation. No pressure. Just a way to make sure you’re one of the calls I get to make instead of one of the ones I don’t.

    Is it a bad idea to be on that list?

    Learn About The MBR Buyers Short List

  • It’s All In How You Look At It

    It’s All In How You Look At It

    We often make things harder in our minds than they really are.

    I’ve heard land investors talk about searching for deals and use the metaphor “like looking for a needle in a haystack.” And I get it. You have to look through a lot of stuff you don’t want to (maybe) find what you do want.

    But think about it a minute.

    And don’t assume rules that nobody spoke.

    Hay is flammable. Needles aren’t.

    Needles are magnetic. Ashes aren’t.

    So if you really want to find that needle, just burn the haystack. Then take a magnet or metal detector to find the needle in the ashes. And you’re done.

    Instead of getting worked up about how hard something sounds, just think it through and see if there’s a creative solution.

    I recently ran a quick search in the greater North Texas area (22 counties). In the land category, there were a little over 4,200 properties available.

    That’s a pretty big haystack. Over 99% of those aren’t going to be suitable for what you’re looking for. Makes it hard to want to start looking.

    And even if you could look through them all, the list changes every day. New properties come on the market. Others sell, expire, get canceled, or get reduced.

    I’ve figured out a way to screen daily for new and reduced properties that appear to be priced well based on recent nearby sales. Burning the haystack, if you will. That leaves me with a much shorter list to run the magnet over.

    Most low-priced properties are cheap for a reason. Floodplain. Access problems. Utility issues. Some other defect that isn’t obvious from the listing. Those get ruled out too.

    Every so often I end up with one or two that are worth a closer look.

    And I have a list of people I alert when that happens.

    But there’s not always a fit.

    It may not be in an area they like. Or it’s more (or less) money than they’re looking to invest. Or maybe they just bought something else.

    So every now and then I end up looking at something I think deserves a closer look and don’t really have the right investor to send it to.

    I’m trying to fix that.

    To hear about opportunities when they survive the filtering, click below and tell me what you’re looking for.

    No obligation. No pressure. Just a way to see what catches my attention before it disappears.

    Would it be a bad idea to know about them?

    Learn More Here

  • Sometimes It Just Works

    Sometimes It Just Works

    But even then, there’s always something when it comes to real estate.

    A few weeks ago one of my clients who’s worked with me over 20 years called and asked me to help him find something pretty specialized. I don’t take that sort of project on all the time, but I did it for him.

    And I’m glad I did.

    I ran a search that day, which flagged two properties. One was basically a perfect fit, so we made a cash offer and closed it yesterday. Less than 30 days from the initial phone call to the closing table.

    Sometimes it just falls into place.

    Thanks to Amin and Perry, listing agent Bill Benton, and the folks at Texas Pioneer Title for making it all go as smoothly as possible.

    When I say as smoothly as possible, I mean everyone was on the same page from end to end. A willing buyer and seller working to get it done.

    But it’s still real estate.

    Even after close to 30 years, it seems like something I’ve never seen before pops up on almost every deal. So you never really know if it’s closing until after it’s done.

    That happened on this one too, but we got it done.

    I don’t do much buyer representation in the way a lot of agents do. For several reasons. I keep my eyes open, and if I see an opportunity I usually know who to take it to. But doing a dedicated search for a specific thing for a specific person, not nearly as often.

    If they were all like the one that closed yesterday, I might change my mind.

    We found exactly what he was looking for, got it under contract quickly, and closed in less than a month.

    Every week I look at hundreds of properties. Most aren’t worth talking about. Some are. And every so often one comes along where my first thought isn’t:

    “Who’s selling this?”

    It’s:

    “Who do I know that should see it?”

    A lot of times I have an answer immediately.

    Sometimes I don’t.

    Wrong area. Wrong deal size. They just bought something else. Whatever the reason, occasionally I end up looking at something I think deserves a closer look and don’t have the right investor to send it to.

    I’m trying to fix that.

    If you’re an investor and would like to hear about opportunities when they come across my desk, click below and tell me what you’re looking for.

    No obligation. No pressure. Just a way for me to know who might be interested when something survives the first round of filtering.

    Is it crazy to think you might want to see the deals I see?

    Learn More Here

  • I Don’t Care How Busy You Are

    I Don’t Care How Busy You Are

    Having lots to do isn’t the goal.

    We all know people who, when you ask how things are going, default to telling you how busy they are.

    Like they think if they say it enough, you’ll assume they must be wildly successful.

    But being busy and being successful aren’t the same thing.

    You can be busy without being successful — I’d say that’s the norm.
    You can also be successful without being busy — I’d say that’s the goal.

    There’s a difference between being busy and “being busy.” Having a lot going on is fine — even healthy — but it has to be intentional.

    For me, I usually have many projects going at any given time.

    Not all of them need attention every day, but there’s pretty much always something I can be pushing ahead.

    And that doesn’t just mean work. Family life matters, too.

    I want time for my kids’ performances, their games, social events — and yes, a little “sharpen-the-saw” leisure time in there somewhere.

    That’s the point of building a business like this: if you do it right, you should have the flexibility to fit in what actually matters.

    I say a lot on here that I’m not glued to my phone. And I’m not.

    But that’s not because I’m screwing off somewhere (okay, sometimes I am).

    Most of the time, it’s because if I’m always working on moving something forward, I can’t stop every time the phone rings.

    I’ll call you back — I promise.

    But by focusing on the task at hand, I actually get more done.

    The point isn’t to rack up the most appointments or have the fullest calendar. Appointments for appointments’ sake are just noise.

    Once I learned that, everything changed for me — and it can for you, too.

    It’s not about being busy.

    There’s no excuse for laziness, either. Focusing your effort in the right places ensures you get a much bigger return on your time.

    I’d rather have four quarters than a hundred pennies. That’s why I don’t just take any listing — I spend my time where it matters.

    Busy is easy.
    Effective is rare.
    And rare is where the results are.

    If you own investment quality real estate, you probably get it already.

    Even if you’re not looking to sell in the next six months to a year, does it ever hurt to know the current market situation?

    And is it ever a bad time to start a conversation with someone who gets it, too?

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