1. Greeting from Roberta Standen
2. RainMakers – Part 2 by David P. Butler
3. Synergy Partner – A Bankruptcy Court Appointed Receivers and Referees
4. Upcoming Events(Seminars, Workshops)

Greetings to All our Friends and Colleagues

As I paused from writing this newsletter for a quick look out the window, I couldn’t help but linger awhile to enjoy the view stretching out before me. The sight of the Black Oaks dressed in brilliant fall fashion, the brilliant yellow of Poplars towering above the flaming orange of the Chinese Pistache trees amid the dark green conifers along the driveway made me glad to be alive. Strange, I drive up to the house every day typically so immersed in thought or concern with yesterday’s task undone or unfinished plans for tomorrow, that I didn’t even notice the native Toyon bursting with fall berries or the bushes of chrysanthemum bowing low under the heavy load of yellow, rust and white flowers. Funny, how I never took the time to appreciate how spectacular this scenario looked against the backdrop of the distant mountain peaks or under the azure sky dotted with a few puffy clouds. Where have I been? How did I miss today??

So, I’ve decided to begin this newsletter with a little prognosticating. There are two days in every week that we should not worry or fret about and from which we should keep ourselves free from fear and apprehension. The first of these days is yesterday. Yesterday, with its mistakes and cares, its’ faults and blunders, its’ aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back Yesterday.

The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow. Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control. Tomorrows’ sun may never rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds. Until and if it does, we have no stake in tomorrow, as it is yet unborn. You are only great tomorrow because of what you do today. Most unhappiness is nurtured by putting off living.

This leaves only one day. Today! I submit that any man can fight the battles of just one day. It is only when we add the burdens of those two awful eternities: Yesterday and Tomorrow that we buckle under the load.

I recall a “Salesman’s Prayer” that went something like this: “This is the beginning of a new day. Today is important to me because I have traded a day of my life for it. Therefore, I want it to be good and not evil, success and not failure; in order that I may always remember the price I paid for it.”

Take a moment, look around, and be thankful for family and friends; for your measure of good health; for love and life and all the rich Blessings God has bestowed upon us all. We appreciate all of you who take the time to read this Newsletter. Have a Wonderful Day….Today!

This month’s newsletter includes Part II of an excellent and timely article by David Butler with Hotspur Investment Group. You will find Part I posted on our website at www.sellerloans.com. At the end of the article he announces an upcoming workshop that you will not want to miss coming up next month in Denver.

Building your business through” Synergy Partners” section features Bankruptcy Court Receivers and Referees this month. Also, be sure to check out the upcoming events calendar. Roberta

RainMakers – Part 2 by David P. Butler

Learning new ways of conducting business – and providing your clients with the most up to date marketing concepts and problem solving techniques – will play a huge role for the Real Estate Professional in the 21st century. That role includes re-educating themselves based on current market conditions.

Paradoxically, two of the most powerful tools an elite Real Estate Professional can have at his disposal in today’s economic environment – a basic working knowledge of Exchanging; and using Seller financing – are actually somewhat advanced deal making techniques that have been practiced by more enlightened real estate professionals and real estate investors, for over 50 years.

There are several powerful reasons for this change in the real estate marketplace, which are creating a boom in the use of the Exchange concept as a method of concluding real estate transactions. One is that several changes in federal tax regulations over the past 30 years have increased the tax advantages offered by exchanges – while most other tax-related benefits of RE investing have been significantly stripped away! Tax deferred 26(IRC) USC Sec. 1031 Exchanges are not used just for larger commercial real estate transactions or special use properties anymore.

Today, most RE Exchanges are actually being completed on bread & butter properties that are typically listed by retail residential real estate agents, including: building lots and vacant land parcels, small multi-family duplexes, tri-plexs, and quadraplexs; single-family rentals, rental condos/ townhouses, etc.

Just one example… To finish this article Click Here!

Developing Bankruptcy Court Appointed Receivers and Referees” as a “Synergy Partner”

This particular “Synergy Partner” is quite special to the Note Servicing Center. In 1984 we had not given much though to integrating the servicing of notes or any other cash flow for that matter into our business plan as a profit center. One day, the Superior Court Judge who we had known for many years called our office to make an appointment for my husband Tom to meet him in the County Law Library. Tom had retired five years earlier as area commander for the California Highway Patrol. He asked Tom if he would consider an appointment as a Referee in conjunction with a case he had recently ruled on. He outlined the duties and responsibilities of the referee which, in this case, involved the distribution of income from a fractioned note that had been put together inappropriately and unlawfully by a local real estate broker.

One of my favorite sayings is “opportunity swings on the hinges of adversity” and this time it was not our adversity, but it was our opportunity and Tom seized the day and reached for the “brass ring”. He accepted the challenge, purchased our first ever computer and off we went to locate software to do the job. This was the beginning of California Equity Corporation, which later became the NOTE SERVICING CORPORATION. We now service thousands of private notes and other cash flows on a national basis.

So, why does a Bankruptcy Receiver or Referee qualify as a “synergy partner”? It is really quite simple. Typically in a bankruptcy case the Court orders the assets to be sold or liquidated to satisfy the creditors. It is the job of the receiver to get the job done. The Court does an Inspection of the financial status and Statement of the Debtor. So, if there are promissory notes in the debtors list of assets, they must be sold. As a note buyer or broker, you want them to call you to liquidate the note – You need them and they need you! Think about it!

But First, THEY HAVE TO KNOW YOU EXIST. YOUR SHIP WILL NOT COME IN UNLESS AND UNTIL YOU SEND IT OUT. FIRST, TO FIND OUT WHO THE REFEREE IS, YOU WILL NEED TO CONTACT THE BANKRUPTCY COURT. This will be a District Court. Talk to the Court Clerk and ask for a list of Referees. This may not work and you may have to actually go to the Court to obtain the names. But it will be worth it.

My suggestions to develop this source is as follows:

1. DEVELOP A DATABASE GROUP a list of Court Referees and Receivers
2. Create a well written AND FORMATTED PROFESSIONAL LETTER OF INTRODUCTION
3. KEEP IN CONTACT WITH THEM ON A REGULAR BASIS. With a well-structured follow up form letter and send with a business card.
4. When contacting the referee, let him or her know you have investors with cash who are prepared to purchase notes for cash. Use the AIDA formula (Attention – Interest – Desire – Action)

The primary marketing objective here is to let the person in control of the note or security instrument know that you exist. Arrange an appointment to meet the referee or receiver nose to nose, and toes to toes. This may take time and be a tough one to cultivate, but it is worth it in the long run. There are very few note buyers or brokers who will make the effort or have the persistence to cultivate this source and establish a business relationship with a referee as a “synergy partner”.

In our case, it paid off handsomely. Since 1984, the Note Servicing Center has been called upon by the court to collect and manage notes on a regular basis. We have found that a receiver or referee has a great deal of latitude and discretion on disposing of and liquidate the assets. Good Luck!