J. T. Foxx

What you missed August 2008 Meeting

J. T. Foxx

by Robert Davis

“Get Rich or Die Broke” was the theme for J. T. Foxx. In less than 5 years, he basically went from rags to riches. J. T. said success is not a matter of chance; it’s a matter of choice. We can sit around and hope by chance something good will happen, or we can take action to make things happen. The current real estate market is distressed. There are a lot of homeowners who are in default on their mortgages. There are a number of factors that caused this to happen. Some probable causes of all this are some of the mortgage companies, the war, and the price of gas. Whatever caused it, it has created many opportunities for a knowledgeable investor. J. T. talked about some of the ways we should deal with distressed homeowners.

Most distressed homeowners have probably been approached by all kinds of people trying to buy their house and offering them low-ball prices, or just talking numbers with them. We need to do things differently, he said. For example we should talk with them in their living room, not their kitchen. He said we need to build rapport and trust with a homeowner. They need to like us. Once a homeowner likes us it is easier to find out what they need or want from a deal. Also, by following up every week on people, who did not do a deal with us, we can sometimes convince them later to do one.

He said we need to either be a money person or a person with good deals. He said networking is a good way to find out who has money and who has deals. We need to build our reputation of credibility and trust with money people. They will not invest money with someone whom they do not trust or someone who shows them a not-so-good deal. We need to be able to recognize a good deal and take action on it.

Getting the right mindset is also most important to become successful in the real estate business. We can learn from those richer than we are. If we hang around millionaires, let them talk, he said. What they say will probably be more informative than what we would say.

J. T. did some role playing with the audience about how to handle a call from a distressed homeowner. Again, he stressed building a rapport with the person calling. Think and act differently from the rest of the people who have talked with that homeowner. By being different and building a trust with the homeowner, we can make more deals happen.

J. T. Foxx has a weekend radio show, but his true passion is investing in real estate and buying below market. He reminded us to think ‘outside of the box’ and we will make better deals.