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Driscoll Enterprises Inc.

Investing in You and Your Future!

 

Issue 42 - December 2014
In this issue
Dear Family and Friends, (by Kevin)  

 

We didn't have a white Christmas this year however we had a house full of love.  We had Kevin's Family, Don's Family, and all our unmarried children with us.  Bringing the total to 16.  Later in the afternoon Justina and Mike joined us to bring the total to 18.  Lots and lots of presents to open, see, and ooh and ahh about.  

 

Years ago Mary Jane and I started a tradition of one person opens, everyone else watches that person open and then that person has to get a present and deliver it to the intended recipient.

 

It has always been my thought to teach both gracious gift giving and receiving by doing it this way.  Of course with a big crowd it takes a long time to open everything.  My mother taught me this because she always wanted to see what everyone received. 

 

A number of years ago when my son and I were visiting some older members of our congregation I asked those members to tell us about the Christmases they used to have when they were young.  These people were in the 70's and shared with us that sometimes they didn't celebrate Christmas at all or if they were lucky they would get an orange or their one pair of shoes for the year.  Things have certainly changed.

 

The point I was trying to make to my son is that we live in a blessed time and blessed country.  Our Children and Grandchildren probably don't understand how well off they are because they've never known anything else.  My Dad grew up poor, and so did my mom, they were relatively happy because they never knew anything else either.

 

The truth is no matter where you are in life, there will always be someone better off and worse off than you.  We are truly grateful that we have so many of our family close by so we can share these moments with them.

 

Quote of the Month: "How you spend your time is more important than how you spend your money.  Money mistakes can be corrected.  But once time has passed, it's gone forever."- John Maxwell

 

See this month's educational corner for more thoughts on John's quote.

 

Enjoy Your Journey,

 

Kevin and Mary Jane

Education Corner

(By Kevin)

 

Time Management is a LIE!

 

About 8 years ago I was at my first real estate seminar and the speaker asked, "Who thinks time is money?"  Well of course almost everyone in the room put their hands up because that is what we have been taught.  Then he made a point that has stuck with me ever since.  Time is not money, time is more valuable than money because you can always make more money but you can't make more time.

 

There are 24 hours in a day and 7 days a week.  We all get the same 168 hours to use as we choose each week.  You cannot manage time, time is relentless.  And as the John Maxwell quote above says.  Once time has passed it is gone forever. 

 

We can't manage something that is consistent and never changing, we can only manage how we use time!  

 

People often say, "I just didn't have the time to get this or that thing done."  That is not a factual statement.  We all have the same 24 hours each day.  A more accurate statement would be, "I chose to spend my time on other things." 

 

Certainly there are many legitimate things we have to do every day and we have to make choices which ones will get done.  There are also many not so important things we do every day.

 

Can you see how much more precious time is than money?  It can slip away pretty fast and it is either used productively or not productively.  

 

As a corporate leader when people would ask "How do I get ahead in the company and they didn't have a degree, I would let them know that a degree doesn't guarantee success but it does open many more doors that can lead to success.   I would then often get a response similar to "It will take 5 years of night school to get a degree."  

 

My response was always something to the effect - you know you are going to be 5 years older whether you spend time getting the degree or not, but how will your life look if don't pay the price and capture that degree versus how will it look if you do capture the degree. 

 

In Todd Duncan's book "Time Traps" he says that "Despite working more days and longer hours, many Americans in the professional world find themselves falling behind."  He offers the following to help us make better use of our time.  Some of these may not apply to all of your situations but the principles will apply.

 

Trap Number 1 = Organization Trap - The Majority of Disorganization is spending time on meaningless tasks - therefore establish boundaries to keep unnecessary tasks from sapping your time.  The five boundaries he suggests are:

  1.  Never give your personal phone numbers to customers or coworkers - ask yourself this - Would I rather be known as easily accessible or worth waiting for? 
  2. Don't give your work phone numbers to friends - the idea is to avoid taking non-emergency calls and emails from friends at work - get in the system of communicating only at lunch or on breaks.
  3. Turn off the instant email alert functions on your computer - the last thing you need is one liners and messages popping up on your screen all day - they are too tempting and will whittle away your time quicker than you realize
  4. Don't answer the phone unless you are expecting a call - you don't actually have to answer the phone every time it rings.  People will find a way to get in touch with you if it is really important all other calls you can return when you are ready. 
  5. Avoid checking your personal email during work hours - very few abide by this rule and it adds to your work hours - sometimes several hours a week - explain to your friends that you are organizing your work so you can have more free time, true friends will support you. 

These five boundaries will help minimize interruptions, thus allowing you to concentrate on the task at hand thus forming a metaphorical damn that will control mounting and eventually overwhelming responsibilities.

 

Become aware of the Yes Trap Or wasting time saying yes.  Climbing the ladder generally means saying yes but saying yes too often can swamp you.  Say yes to the right tasks.  There are three kinds of tasks:

  1. Unnecessary tasks - represent activities that prohibit you from moving forward and therefore waste time - common examples watching TV, surfing the web, playing computer games - stop or limit these tasks.
  2. Necessary Tasks - represent activities that have the potential of moving you forward toward your goals - examples are - goal setting, planning, networking, self-improvement, necessary communication, etc. - regulate your time in these tasks.
  3. Productive tasks - represent the activities that most effectively move you toward your goals - if you are in real estate it is evaluating properties and making offers, if you're working at a JOB it will be turning out the best product you can.  As a self-employed person I always need to ask myself if I am working on my business or in my business.  There is a huge difference.  Working on your business is about growth and vision, working in your business is about getting the day-to-day activities done.

 

The Control Trap - hording tasks - ask yourself can someone else help, can I reasonably pass this task off - for instance in the real estate investing world I no longer swing a hammer, I can, but my time is much better spent looking for deals that can make us and our partners money. 


 

Assume a CEO mindset - when you see your business or JOB as a company you must control and grow, the need to focus on important variables increases.  

Do you understanding where you want to be in five years?  This is essential because if you don't know this, chances are you will be right where you are today 5 years from now.


 

Technology Trap - we are gadget happy, sometimes we lose more time with technology than we intended to gain by using it - there are 5 ways to keep technology from impeding our progress 

  1. Shorten your technology leash
  2. Substitute new gadgets don't stockpile them
  3. Ask directions to maximize effectiveness of gadgets
  4. Test your gadgets efficiency
  5. Go backward to go forward - don't use a gadget when an older method is more efficient

Failure Trap - if past failures slow you down then they are stealing time from you today - recognize that yesterday cannot be changed and that  only the moment you are in now can be controlled by you, so make the most of each of your moments.

 

We hope this article helps you utilize your seconds, minutes, and hours more effectively.

Industry News  

(by Kevin

 

 

Can You Buy Back Your Foreclosed Home?

 

Bryan Ellis reports that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) may have a solution for you: you can buy back your old home - at "fair market value" of course.  Last week, the FHFA announced a new policy that will permit some homeowners who lost their homes during the housing crash to repurchase their homes using a Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae loan.

 

The FHFA will allow Fannie and Freddie to lower the principal on loans belonging to former homeowners rather than require them to pay the entire debt owed on their old mortgage.  Read more here.


 

REITs Struggle to Buy Apartments

 

NREI Newsline reports that Multifamily REITs have lots of money from eager Wall Street investors, but it's hard to find good opportunities to buy properties in core markets.  Apartment REITs have been net sellers overall in 2014, though by a very small margin. Read the rest of the article here.


 

Prepare to Refinance Your Home Mortgage

 

Refinancing your home can have huge long term benefits if you have an interest rate that is one percentage point higher than the current rate or if you have an adjustable rate mortgage and want to move to a fixed rate mortgage to remove the uncertainty out of future payments.

Business Insight Ideas offers these three suggestions to make the process of refinancing your home easier.

  1. 1.   Get your debts under control
  2. 2.   Organize financial and other related documents
  3. 3.   Show patience

Click here to read the entire article.

Projects and Opportunities 
  • 8% - 20+% ROI: We are continuing to locate used mobile homes, set them up in one of our Manufacture Housing Communities, and sell/rent them.  If you have between $15,000 and $20,000 you want working harder for you then this could be the right opportunity for you.

We will do all the work and can manage the home for you totally turn key or you can place one of your homes in our community and manage it yourself.  We are very flexible with these opportunities.  

 

We only do 3 of these per month so let us know your interest as soon as possible so we can more fully explain the  process and get your name on the list.

 

Did you know that you can invest in real estate from your IRA or other retirement account?  You can also use your stock portfolio to invest without ever selling your stock? (Think leverage, leverage, leverage!).  These investment secrets aren't well known but they are perfectly legal.  Contact us and/or click on this Investment Secret link to learn more. 

Laughs and Interesting Stuff 

(Kevin and Mary Jane) 


 

Dear Santa,


 

This year all I'm asking for is a big fat bank account and a slim body.


 

Please don't mix them up like you did last year.


 

Kevin

 

 

News Year's Eve One Liners:

 

  • A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other. 
  • Dear Luck, .....can we be friends in 2015 Please? 
  • I wanna kiss you on December 31st from 11:59 pm to 12:01 am, so I can have an amazing ending to 2014 and a beautiful beginning into 2015.  
  • Tonight the Mayor is dropping the ball in New York while Congress is dropping the ball in Washington.  
  • What do you call always having a date for New Year's Eve? Social Security  

 

Stand by your best friend


On New Year's Eve, Marilyn stood up in the local pub and said that it was time to get ready. At the stroke of midnight, she wanted every husband to be standing next to the one person who made his life worth living. 

Well, it was kind of embarrassing. As the clock struck 12, the bartender was almost crushed to death. 


A New Year Prayer For the Elderly


 

God, grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway,

The good fortune to run into the ones that I do, 

And the eyesight to tell the difference.


 

Lecture Tour with A Difference


 

On New Year's Eve, Daniel was in no shape to drive, so he sensibly left his van in the car park and walked home.  

 

As he was wobbling along, he was stopped by a policeman.  "What are you doing out here at four o'clock in the morning?" asked the police officer.

 

"I'm on my way to a lecture," answered Roger.


 

"And who on earth, in their right mind, is going to give a lecture at this time on New Year's Eve?" inquired the officer sarcastically.

 

"I am sure my wife is primed and already to go." slurred Daniel grimly.



And God Promised Men

And God promised men that good and obedient wives would be found in all corners of the world.

Then he made the earth round..... and laughed and laughed and laughed............


 

Mary Jane was concerned I might offend some of our women readers with this last one so let me set the record straight.  I prefer a woman who thinks for herself, stays with me because she wants to not because she has to, and who is strong and knows her own mind.  A woman exactly like my beautiful bride and best friend, Mary Jane!

  

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Keep On Smiling!

(so people will wonder what your up to AND its contagious) 

 

We are always willing to share information with you so please feel free to contact us

 

Driscoll Enterprises Inc. 332 West Lee Hwy., Suite 200, Warrenton, VA 20186

703-398-1188 or 800-887-0001

[email protected]

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