Content – What’s Up and What’s Coming – What Say You?

This blog is an extension of our firm, Brown and Brown Investment Properties, which came into being January of 1977. I’m the dad now, but was the son then. What we do, put as simply as possible, is take our clients from where they are today, to the best retirement we can create together, never leaving their sides ’till that special day arrives. Oh, and we love being invited to any retirement party.

As you’ve noticed the last several weeks, more authors have begun to appear. This isn’t just a trend, it’s a format change. It’s meant to provide even more solid, helpful information for my readers. This blog’s reputation is for staying incredibly focused on your retirement, how to get you there safely, sooner, and with maximum income, as much of it as possible tax sheltered or tax free. (We don’t talk about unrelated topics here, with the occasional exception for Padres and Charger stuff. Oh, and there are the weekend bio-story posts.)

Sometimes this means the inclusion of closely related topics like EIULs, Self-Directed IRAs, Seps, Solo 401(k)s, and the like. Also, tax law, real estate law, trust and/or custodian rules and regs — not to mention the various lending needs of all the above. I’m pretty knowledgeable on all those topics, what with four decades experience, but be serious, when we can get the straight poop from a narrowly defined expert, we’d be fools not to. That’s the way we’ve run our firm since Day 1. If clients needed specialized advice/info on these various related subjects, we had those experts already on our team. So why not on the blog too?

Duh! It shouldn’t have taken so long to connect the dots. I love this stuff. Talkin’ with folks about their current status and retirement plans is like a fix for me. I don’t know how else to put it. The more expertise we bring to the Brown and Brown table, the better off our clients are. This is why we’ve always maintained the team approach both in our company and in the regions we recommend to our clients.

BawldGuy Policy: If we haven’t established a team in a particular locale AND done our own boots-on-the-ground research, we don’t take clients there — no exceptions. An established professional support system must be in place first.

I’ve been helpin’ folks invest in real estate through their IRAs etc. for quite awhile now. However, I haven’t put it on the front burner ’till recently. Why? Cuz so many have lost 30-50% of what they’d built up in their IRAs/401s etc. and are tired of getting led down the garden path by experts who only advised them to take actions resulting in fees to them. We don’t do that here.

BawldGuy Policy: The basis for any advice we give our clients at any given time is never premised upon how it benefits us. If the best move means some other professional gets paid, that’s what we advise. If it means tellin’ them to stand pat, that’s what we tell ‘em. Furthermore, with very rare exception, we go out of our way to avoid any ‘referral fee’ coming our way. It’s not the way we roll.

So when we advise a client to buy an EIUL, that capital is steered away from more real estate investment, and there is no financial benefit to us whatsoever either immediately or down the road. Same goes with referrals to CPAs, Attorneys, Lenders, Trusts/Custodians, Management Firms, and any other related services.

The exception is if a client needs a solid real estate broker in their area. Usually that broker will pay us a referral fee. We have no problem taking those — and our clients are almost universally happy to hear about it. (We always disclose, of course.)

Coming Attractions

You’ve already seen David Stejkowski. Dave’s a real estate attorney in Chicago who’s the real deal — and a half. For a decade or so, the ‘other’ Brown was not only a licensed broker, but a practicing real estate attorney. Think my decades of experience is a lot? Dave’s been the closing attorney on over $1 Billion of investment real estate — and he’s not 102 years old. Dave will be contributing here regularly, though not on a tightly scheduled basis.

David Shafer is our in-house expert on EIULs, one of the most productive secondary vehicles for our clients. Dave is WAY Old School, as am I. We neither ask for nor do we receive any financial benefit for any referral sent Dave’s way. You’ll find he’s a very valuable asset to have on your team.

CPA Very soon, possibly next week, a CPA with oodles of experience in business, real estate, and Qualified Plan tax code, will be here. He’ll be posting on subjects of my choosing, as well has his. Also, if there’s something any of you folks wanna hear about, related to what we do here, he’ll write about that too. What I like about this guy is his ability to say “I’m not sure”, then quickly get back to me with the definitive answer. The guy is pure gold.

Brian Brady is, as I’ve said here before, one of the three or four mortgage brokers I’ve met in person who actually knows what he’s doing. The guy’s first five years in the business world were spent on Wall Street (in Phoenix) which gave him a rare insight into how things really work, and more importantly, why. He’s our go-to guy when clients require financing for real estate acquisitions inside of their Self-Directed retirement plans.

Trust/Custodian Firm I’m especially fond of this addition, as they bring incredible knowledge, experience, and expertise to the table when it comes to Self-Directed IRAs and the like. There will most likely be two contributors from this firm, (to be named shortly). The Founder/CEO, and his Vice President in charge of real estate investments, a lady whose resumé was a humbling read for yours truly.

A List of Potential Additional Contributors

Though I stopped counting how many tax deferred exchanges I’ve executed after a couple hundred, I think it’d be cool to have someone whose job description is pretty much nothing but things related to Section 1031 of the IRC. I already have someone in mind. They’re the only person I’d consider at this point who meets our standard for ‘slam dunk expert’. I’m keeping my fingers crossed he’ll say yes to my invite.

For those interested in cash flow, and the ability to provide tax shelter for it, I’m aggressively pursuing a Cost Segregation expert. There are many from which to choose, so one of the pivotal factors in making my choice will be the bottom line cost to clients in need of the service. Though I have a short list of my own, if you’re a cost seg guy/gal, gimme a call — we can talk.

Then there’s the type of lender we use for the bulk of our clients’ purchases and exchanges. Just a few years ago, I wouldn’t have thought of them as a contributor here. Oh, how things have changed. I’m thinkin’ of a particular guy, one I can’t even use at this point. He’s so dang good though, that I know you’d benefit from his experience and knowhow. More on this guy — and sooner rather than later.

Also, and be quiet about this, I’m talkin’ with a wicked smart lady who is a magician with local/regional real estate cycles. If we’re lucky, we might be able to get some of her wisdom added to our own hardcore, boots-on-the-ground research results. That won’t be the only thing with which she’ll be able to help. Stay tuned.

Finally, I’m now lookin’ for a real estate insurance expert. The last two I’ve used locally have either passed, or retired. I’m open for any candidates you’d like me to vet. In my opinion this is the most misunderstood and undervalued factor in real estate ownership. There are a myriad of nigglingly irritating details that are anything but trivial when they come into play. Not only will they talk about what you need to know and understand about your income property’s policy, but about the use of other policies like umbrella.

The bottom line is this: While remaining focused like a laser beam on creating a magnificent retirement through real estate investing via Purposeful Planning, the related factors impacting the successful attainment of that retirement will now be addressed by our own in-house ‘Slam Dunk Experts’ more or less regularly.

Think I’ve missed something? Let me know. The all encompassing theme here is to provide what’s needed to ensure the most comfort on your journey to retirement. And make no mistake — it is a journey.

Please, contact me at 619 889-7100. Have a good one.

Related posts:

1. Why Don’t You Super-Size Your Coming McRetirement?
2. The Challenge Of Coming Back From Loss — Real Estate Investors Learn From Mistakes
3. Are We Coming To A Real Estate Investment Fork In The Road?
4. The Coming New World Of Lending — Back To The Future
5. Previews Of Coming Attractions — Workin’ On 2 Scenarios