Dear Rogue Investors,

 

If any of you have ever called us at Rogue Investor's office and heard the phone answered “Mind Like Water and Rogue Investor,” you were probably a little surprised. Let me explain. 10 years ago this month Bryan Rundell, Diane Faile, a few others and I started a company to help disseminate education and information using the power of the Internet.

 

At the time, Bryan and I had worked together at two different engineering firms. We were employed as hydrogeologists, a specialty of geology dealing with groundwater flow and environmental cleanups. Bryan and I worked together for many years and shared the same educational background and philosophy on life. When it came time for one of the engineering firms that we worked at to close our office and offer us employment in another state, we decided that the best form of job security is to do it yourself.

 

We had some crazy ideas and some of them worked and others did not. One thing we did have was tenacity – a stubborn unwillingness to give up. I don’t know if was our Midwestern upbringing, our parents or some genetic code gone bad, but the thought of having a business was too exciting so we created Mind Like Water. In the meantime, we both pursued real estate, foreclosure and stock investing.

 

Mind Like Water included portals of information. One portal was called Rogue Investor. This portal focused on investing information based upon what Bryan and I were doing. For anyone wondering, a “rogue” is someone or something that breaks away on his/her/its own. A rogue thinks independently and does not get caught up in the latest fad. In the natural world, there are rogue waves that ship captains have reported seeing. These rogue waves are individual waves usually much larger than the normal waves and are not related to storms, earthquakes or other natural disasters.

 

We believed that there are rogues in each of us and it is really the rogues who do well. Look at most successful businesses and you’ll find a rogue who either started it, jump started it or is now running it. Anyone who thinks Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple) is not a rogue hasn’t been paying attention.

 

Back to Mind Like Water for a moment. We also had other portals, such as Liberty Ashore (arts and entertainment), Outer Waves (music), Primordial Stew (science) and Tide Turning (politics). We had a blast with these ideas and the prospect of the company. Our basic premise was “shared emedia.” We even sought venture capital funding when that was fashionable.

 

The more I talk about it, the more it sounds like some early version of social networking, like blogging (web logging), twittering (or is it tweeting), facebooking (or writing on someone’s wall), or connecting through Myspace.  You get the point. Our problem at the time was that we could not find people to write articles or send us content, and we ended up writing everything ourselves.

 

I find it amazing now that social networking companies have tapped into the very essence of what we were trying to do with “shared emedia.” Think about all the free content that is being created on these social networking sites. It’s astounding.

 

I guess timing really is everything.

 

What we found to work consistently was real estate. I firmly believe to this day that there is no simpler way for the average person to make a lot of money than real estate. It’s just not that complicated. You buy low and sell high. You use other people’s money for positive leverage. You earn cash flow and have someone else pay off the mortgage. However, it is not without its share of hassles and hard work.

 

Anyway, I am feeling a little sentimental because of our 10-year anniversary and the fact that it has been almost a year since Bryan’s death. We worked together and were close friends for over 18 years. I never had a brother and he never did either, so we both considered each other as brothers in business.

 

One of the projects we were working on that he was really excited about is our foreclosure investing in Kansas City. Along with Angi Bever, the three of us put together a plan to take advantage of the local Kansas City market – in my opinion, one of the best foreclosure markets in the country.

 

Until now I have not introduced this plan outside of our seminars. However, in celebration of our 10-year anniversary in May, I want to tell you about our 10-10-10 Foreclosure Plan.

 

The 10-10-10 Foreclosure Plan is very simple to understand and it can make you a lot of money:

 

(1) We find you an income producing property, typically a foreclosure, and we negotiate the price down dramatically. In return, you pay us a 10% finder’s fee. Our goal is to save you more than 10% so your fee is free. In addition, we will find you a property that is at least 50% below comps for the area.

 

(2) We have inexpensive and competent contractors on hand and ready to fix up your property to get it in rentable shape or make it suitable for government programs, such as Section 8. Our experience over the last year has shown that our contractors are at least one-half of the cost of other contractors. For managing any fix up or rehab, we charge 10%.

 

(3) The final 10% is for rental management. We will manage the rental, occupancy and collection of rents to keep the hassle factor down as low as possible. For anyone who has managed rental properties, you will recognize that this nominal fee is well worth it.

 

Furthermore, your risk is greatly reduced because we screen each property and provide estimates of any rehab costs and ongoing expenses. We let you know what the rental market is and how you can use the government’s Section 8 program. We work with you one on one, take pictures, get quotes, and speak to the city all before you sign on the dotted line.

 

The cost for these foreclosure houses, duplexes, 4-plexes and other multi-family units ranges from $6,000 to $48,000. This makes it a great market for anyone with a little cash (e.g., self-directed IRA money) or partners who come together. Why worry about financing when you can come up with the cash; oftentimes, the down payment is less than $20,000.

 

Rehab is typically in the range of $5,000 to $15,000 when needed. You can expect to earn about $600 to $800 per unit per month in rental income. The annual returns are spectacular.

 

Finally, the title is in your name or your company name. If you choose to use another company for rental management or if you want to resell as quickly as possible, it is your property so it is your decision.

 

The bottom line is we can’t guarantee returns, but we can show you plenty of examples that will blow your mind.

 

As a special gift to you for our 10-year anniversary, I am conducting a free teleseminar Tuesday evening, June 9th (9:00 PM Eastern; 8:00 PM Central; 7:00 PM Mountain; 6:00 PM Pacific). For anyone living abroad, I will send you the recording and, if you are interested, I’ll show you all of the details necessary to buy real estate in the United States as a foreign citizen.

 

If you are interested, please respond to this email with your name, email address and time zone. This will make it easier for us to set you up for the teleconference.

 

Happy Birthday Mind Like Water,

 

Michael Williams