In case you missed it on the the union tribune blog (what the last two threads here are referring to: )
By rcromer on 03/24/2008 at 10:25 a.m.
In Response to some of the harsh readers and armchair quarterbacks,
I do admit, I/we made some very poor choices, especially being as aggressive as we were. First off, we have worked hard our entire lives. Anyone who knows us will vouch for that. And if one thinks that doing due diligence on multiple properties/housing markets, representing the transactions until closing and managing the bills, properties, and tenants afterwards is easy work, then you have a much higher tolerance for stress and exhaustion than we did….and you may have missed your calling.
To the lady who said that she would stay away from us: 90-95% of our business comes from past clients and referrals because our clients know that we are good at what we do, we work extremely hard and we are always looking out for their best interest (we are much more conservative with our client's money, than we were our own). In addition, we did not sell very much real estate in 2007, because we did not feel that we could ethically advise someone to buy in San Diego, unless it was a non-investment decision driven by the client. There were several occasions that we had clients come to us wanting to buy and we told them to "come back in a year and we will re-evaluate the market conditions then". If we had chosen to sell those people homes we may not be in the financial situation we are in now. However, it was the right thing to do. We have bettered many peoples' lives through real estate over the last several years and we will continue to do so. Our biggest mistakes were that we leveraged too much, did not have an adequate liquid savings (especially when trying to open a business with huge overhead) and we put all our eggs in one basket.
By rcromer on 03/24/2008 at 10:25 a.m.
In 2007 we went out on a limb, when an excellent location on a commercial building became available to open our own business. We were optimistic about the opportunities we could create not only for ourselves but for other Realtors and individuals in the home services industry. We poured our heart, soul's ad savings into the business and spent 3 months remodeling a building that was built in 1983. At that time the market was making a drastic adjustment downward and we had much more money going out than we did coming in. Learning the ins and outs of running a small business as well as managing our properties was keeping us at work for 12-15 hours a day. Everything we had worked for over the last 10 years went into the business, which had always been a dream of mine. (That is why I entered the roller coaster contest 10 years prior, so I could open my own business). In retrospect, I now realize that my decisions were based on emotion and not rational business choices.
In case, you are wondering if we have learned from our mistakes, without a doubt. I have a master's degree from the University of San Diego, but by far my biggest education has come from the school of hard knocks. We have learned so much, maybe more than we wanted to, about foreclosures, cash flow, and investing. As a result, we are even better real estate agents. It was never our intent to "walk away" from our commitments. We are still in the process of righting our wrongs with banks and debtors. We know we created our situation and are prepared to deal with the consequences. .
Without going through something like this, no one can fathom the stress, emotional devastation, family upheaval and financial struggles that we have and are currently enduring. I would not wish this on anyone, not even those that laughed, ridiculed or were even vengeful in their remarks.
BTW: I see ocrenter's post there too 🙂
rcromer,
so you are blaming this all on the failed business adventure in 2007. I find that a little hard to believe.
first off, according to the CNNMoney article back in 5/2004, the 10 properties you guys had at the time were in the red by $3000 every month.
but you kept buying! in fact, the two of you ended up buying a $1.35 million home in Chula Vista toward the end of 2004 (which ended up in foreclosure). according to the CNNMoney article, the two of you only pulled in $175k in '04. there's no way someone making $175k can afford a $1.35 million dollar home, especially when you guys were still on the hook for $3000 every month to make up the balance on the 10 properties.
then in 2005 you guys bought a 2500 sqft home in Chula Vista for 3/4 million. there's no way rent would be able to cover the carrying cost on that one. not even close!
the problem is it really doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if your properties are negative cash flowing, you shouldn't be buying more properties that would be even more negative in cash flow. face it, the main reason why you guys faltered is one reason and one reason only: GREED.
as for you telling your clients to not buy in 2007. nice but a little too late. inventory in SD started skyrocketing in 2005 and sales were diving starting in 2004. the writing was already on the wall then. had you started telling your clients to stop buying in '05 then yes, you would be a good agent.
telling a client not to buy in '07? boy, a 5 year old could have told them that!
