Averages are supposed to be rather dull and undramatic. After all, they’re just “average.” No one would put a bumper sticker on the family car that says, “My Son is an Average Student at George Washington Elementary School!” But I have one average that will make your head spin like Linda Blair’s in “The Exorcist”: The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles is $2,550. Now, let’s set that average against another Los Angeles real estate average: The average home value in Los Angeles is $536,000. Losing at the rent game Here’s why I mention those...
“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” – Maya Angelou We all prefer to be in charge of our lives. I think it is human nature. Most people do a pretty good job at this most of the time. But our world is so complex today, we can’t be in 100 percent control of everything that happens to us or fully control every aspect of our lives. So you have to live with the fact that occasionally things happen to you that are beyond your control. What becomes important at this point is how you react to the things...
A friend who used to write for newspapers once did an article on the local options consumers have if they need to borrow money. He was writing a “first person” article and his research took him into a pawnshop. He had a beautiful antique pocket watch that his girlfriend of the time had given him. It had been in her family for many years. It was gold and he figured if he took it into a pawnshop he could use it as collateral for a decent-sized loan. Wrong. The owner of the pawnshop looked it over and offered to loan $25 on the pocket watch. He was stunned and...
At Evoque Lending, when we’re asked what kind of investors put their money in trust deeds, we’re tempted to put a fun spin on the answer and say something like, “Smart investors!” But while we believe that savvy investors do see the benefits of trust deed investing, the individuals and organizations we serve are widely varied and deserve to be described in more depth. Now that we’ve broken down trust deed investors into two big groups – individuals and organizations – let’s drill down further. Who Is The Typical Trust Deed Investor? (Part 2) General...
