|
| Steve Dexter's May 12, 2009 Real Estate Blog Posting |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| Steve Dexter's Real Estate Resume |
• Steve is an invited expert commentator
for CNN/Money, CBS Radio, Fox TV and
numerous other newspapers and media
outlets
• He has been a distinguished speaker at
the Harvard Business School, Harvard
Law School and their Graduate School of
Design and has mentored many of their
students about entrepreneurship and real
estate investing. He also has spoken at
Northwestern University’s Kellogg School
of Business Management located in
Chicago.
• He is author of the book Real Estate
Debt Can Make You Rich published by
McGraw-Hill. The book was rated one of
the top 5 real estate books of the year by
Bob Bruss, a nationally syndicated
columnist of the Washington Post Media
Group.
• Steve’s has just finished his second
book, Prospering in the Rising Wave of
Bank Foreclosures.
• He is also a member and speaker of
NAREE (National Association of Real
Estate Editors),a professional group of
authors and major newspaper journalists
who write about the national real estate
market.
• Since 1990, Steve has worked as a
consultant advising people how to
structure their loans and/or purchase
properties.
• He is President of National Capital
Funding since 1995.
• He teaches courses in investing and real
estate finance at colleges across
Southern California. He writes a free bi-
monthly E-Newsletter, “Economic News
You Can Use”.
• He has personally funded over 500
million dollars in real estate loans.
• He coaches budding real estate agents
and mortgage brokers.
• He writes articles for several national
real estate journals.
• He is an active real estate investor and
owns 27 investment houses in Southern
California and around the country. Steve
Dexter continues to offer mentoring to
hundreds of investors across the nation.
for CNN/Money, CBS Radio, Fox TV and
numerous other newspapers and media
outlets
• He has been a distinguished speaker at
the Harvard Business School, Harvard
Law School and their Graduate School of
Design and has mentored many of their
students about entrepreneurship and real
estate investing. He also has spoken at
Northwestern University’s Kellogg School
of Business Management located in
Chicago.
• He is author of the book Real Estate
Debt Can Make You Rich published by
McGraw-Hill. The book was rated one of
the top 5 real estate books of the year by
Bob Bruss, a nationally syndicated
columnist of the Washington Post Media
Group.
• Steve’s has just finished his second
book, Prospering in the Rising Wave of
Bank Foreclosures.
• He is also a member and speaker of
NAREE (National Association of Real
Estate Editors),a professional group of
authors and major newspaper journalists
who write about the national real estate
market.
• Since 1990, Steve has worked as a
consultant advising people how to
structure their loans and/or purchase
properties.
• He is President of National Capital
Funding since 1995.
• He teaches courses in investing and real
estate finance at colleges across
Southern California. He writes a free bi-
monthly E-Newsletter, “Economic News
You Can Use”.
• He has personally funded over 500
million dollars in real estate loans.
• He coaches budding real estate agents
and mortgage brokers.
• He writes articles for several national
real estate journals.
• He is an active real estate investor and
owns 27 investment houses in Southern
California and around the country. Steve
Dexter continues to offer mentoring to
hundreds of investors across the nation.
|
| Click Here to Buy Beat the Banks by Steve Dexter |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| Webmaster, Promotion in Motion, brad@promotioninmotion.net |
May 12, 2009
The Native Americans were first here, these tribes of the Cochise, Apache and Ute gave way
to the Spaniards seeking gold and conquest, who then lost all when Spain finally recognized
Mexican independence September 27,1821, after a decade of war.
These desert plains, this flat and hot terrain was the highly coveted real estate fought over
by newly independent Mexico and an the United States, back and forth they went with the
battles over land entitlements while the Apaches raided both Mexican and American
settlements..
Blood was spilt, battles were waged, and land was purchased. In 1886, the last Indian warrior,
Geronimo, was captured when entering the Ojo Caliente Reservation in New Mexico .
We saw the historical marker when Princess had to pee.
As we ventured into New Mexico , we saw another mining town dominated by a massive open
pit on the outskirts. Copper was mined here until copper prices plunged last summer, but it
should re-open as copper prices have roared back over 40% in the last three months.
The Wild West was on display at Tombstone , sight of the infamous Gunfight at the OK
Corral. Now, it is a semi-historical made up tourist town. Three tourist concessions run three
different gunfight dramas where they re-enact supposedly true storylines. Too many young
Johnnies with toy gun belt straps attached trying to be cowboys. This tourist town looked a
mirage.
I actually learned about cowboying, and altered gender states in the downtown art district in
Silver City, New Mexico, a town in the beginnings of the Sangre de Christo Mountains range,
Silver City is a vibrant community in Grant County, New Mexico, nestled alongside more than
3 million acres of the Gila Wilderness. With historic ties to mining, ranching and agriculture,
Silver City is billed as a modern town with friendly people, growing businesses and a terrific
year-round climate.
Partly true. On a cool, rainy morning, we experienced a town of retirees with time on their
hands, business owners barely scraping by, farmer-ranchers newly laid off from the copper
pit outside of town, and one confused cowboy.
As I left Susan to endlessly graze in the historic downtown's curio shops and antique dealers
inside the 100 year old buildings. The elevated sidewalks had embedded iron rings where
you can tie up your horse-one guy actually did. I stopped to say hello to the downtown coffee
clache comprised of men of all ages, the brain trust of Silver Springs solving the world's
problems by mid-morning. (See the actual picture of the coffee shop in this excellent NY
Times article about why this is a great town to visit)
Poured myself a cup of Joe and pulled up for the stories. Best story of the day came from the
cowboy who insisted that you are not a cowboy until "you mend fences in a snowstorm or
sleep with a newly born calf. All this rodeo stuff is just for show".
"So you're really a cowboy?" I asked that rail-thin young buck with the weather-worn face.
Scuffed up boots, jeans and a dirty cowboy hat completed the picture.
"Well, that is not who I really am. Cowboying is hard" he said as he leaned back on his on his
plastic lawn chair. "I'm really artist inside. I make contemplative rock sculptures you can
meditate by. I laminate the rocks I slice open in layers so you can look at the pretty colors."
Hmm, I thought. My expectations were becoming warped.
Next best story came from this tall person named Pat. All Pat said for ten minutes was that
gays ought to get married if they want and they ought to legalize marijuana.
"It's ok to smoke pot. I smoke dope, and I own two businesses" agreed the owner of the
coffee shop. "Me too" chimed in the two other gray hairs of this coffee circle.
I finally looked up at this Pat-lady dressed in a frilly dress and realized that Pat was a guy. A
not very attractive guy. No wonder her nose was so big, her name sexually amorphous and
his voice so deep. I knew I wasn't in Kansas anymore like Dorothy of the Wizard of Oz.
Rather, I was in the twilight zone of the New Mexico highlands, but the coffee was great.
Gender benders and pot smokers-this was not the small town Americana I expected- but it
was a very interesting divergence of opinions, a veritable cross section of thinking Americans
in tune with the issues of the day.
The coffee shop owner was a pretty together business owner despite being a dope smoker.
He benefited from getting an SBA loan for his eateries three years ago, fed them money for
the first year and now he is making money. No way could he get that loan today, he said.
For history's sake, stay at the Palace Hotel. Built in 1882, this old Grande Dame was located
in the middle of the historic downtown and will be where we go next time. The place is
beautifully re-done and it is in the middle of everything, and so is Vicki's Eatery the best place
in town for breakfast where we had a terrific omelet made with fresh vegetables.
What an engineering feat we saw when we walked the Catwalk Trail the next day. Located
sixty miles north of Silver City near the town of Glenwood, you walk on scaffolding suspended
above a roaring creek. The sheer canyon walls and big red boulders hundreds of feet above
us made us feel we were in never-never land. Seeing the enormity of building this apparatus
over a hundred years ago humbled us at the effort they went to build this and maintain this
pipeline to mine the silver.
We nearly had a heart attack when our dog took a flying leap off of a 45 degree slope and
disappeared into the blackness, chasing some furry animal. Princess flew into space and
disappeared. Landing on a bank, she realized what she had done and managed to crawl
back. No more off-leash dogs for us
West Texas was where we ended up next. Miles and miles of it-flat, dusty and desolate- as I
remember that landscape when I worked the oil fields there in the early 1980's.
You guys did not know that about me, right? I used to be a well site geologist, sitting on
exploratory wells from Oklahoma to Louisiana to Texas. Very interesting work, I camped out
next to drilling rigs as they punctured the ground. As the drill cuttings came up, I tested them
for oil and gas shows to report back to the company. . I was even on a blow out once.
Very scary when the jet engine roar starts and drilling tools start flying out of a flaming hole.
Most small towns we passed through on this marvelous trip have seen better days. We
observed hundreds of abandoned structures during the trip-boarded up stores, crumbling
shacks, empty diners and filling stations with no gas. Very few bright spots in the tiny towns of
Texas when young people have to work three jobs and working at Wal Mart and the Sonic
Drive In is the best employment around.
Marfa,Texas seemed lonely and deserted, too. That is, until we saw the magnificent Hotel
Paisano located in the center of town next to the railroad station where the Amtrak train
stops. The Paisano, built in 1930, was for the most part a cattleman's hotel for its first 40
years. Ranchers from all over the area had business meetings here and bought and sold
their herds from the lobby of the hotel. For a while, it was closed and boarded up before
experiencing its renaissance.
We could not get a room. I could not believe it. Cars parked all around, people milling about,
a sold out hotel and tour buses splayed about proved to us this was not your typical West
Texas town, ready to dry up and blow away.
Marfa, home of the "Marfa Lights", a ghostly apparition that nobody knows the source, is a
town replete with galleries, restaurants, and was where the movie "Giant" starring James
Dean was filmed. It even has its own public radio station.
Its many art galleries, which exhibit predominantly contemporary talent, both regional and
faraway, in media including painting, photography, ceramics, and sculpture/installation art
attracts tourists from all over. Great stuff of high quality
I got to tell you about a group from LA on tour from the Los Angeles Museum of
Contemporary Art. One sun glassed guy with stylish longish hair, designer jeans and an
attitude to match that completed the LA look was not a guy who would give you an old
fashioned Texas howdy when you met him. Rather, he would look you over, sniff and give
you a curt tip of the head. He was too busy appreciating his art to say hello,
None of these California art appreciators were particularly affable and that, ladies
and gentlemen, belies the difference between West Coasters and Midwesterners.
Have you noticed that? Let me know why you think that West Coaster Guy was so
rude, AND STAY TUNED FOR THE LAST INSTALLMENT OF DEXTER'S TRAVELS
The Native Americans were first here, these tribes of the Cochise, Apache and Ute gave way
to the Spaniards seeking gold and conquest, who then lost all when Spain finally recognized
Mexican independence September 27,1821, after a decade of war.
These desert plains, this flat and hot terrain was the highly coveted real estate fought over
by newly independent Mexico and an the United States, back and forth they went with the
battles over land entitlements while the Apaches raided both Mexican and American
settlements..
Blood was spilt, battles were waged, and land was purchased. In 1886, the last Indian warrior,
Geronimo, was captured when entering the Ojo Caliente Reservation in New Mexico .
We saw the historical marker when Princess had to pee.
As we ventured into New Mexico , we saw another mining town dominated by a massive open
pit on the outskirts. Copper was mined here until copper prices plunged last summer, but it
should re-open as copper prices have roared back over 40% in the last three months.
The Wild West was on display at Tombstone , sight of the infamous Gunfight at the OK
Corral. Now, it is a semi-historical made up tourist town. Three tourist concessions run three
different gunfight dramas where they re-enact supposedly true storylines. Too many young
Johnnies with toy gun belt straps attached trying to be cowboys. This tourist town looked a
mirage.
I actually learned about cowboying, and altered gender states in the downtown art district in
Silver City, New Mexico, a town in the beginnings of the Sangre de Christo Mountains range,
Silver City is a vibrant community in Grant County, New Mexico, nestled alongside more than
3 million acres of the Gila Wilderness. With historic ties to mining, ranching and agriculture,
Silver City is billed as a modern town with friendly people, growing businesses and a terrific
year-round climate.
Partly true. On a cool, rainy morning, we experienced a town of retirees with time on their
hands, business owners barely scraping by, farmer-ranchers newly laid off from the copper
pit outside of town, and one confused cowboy.
As I left Susan to endlessly graze in the historic downtown's curio shops and antique dealers
inside the 100 year old buildings. The elevated sidewalks had embedded iron rings where
you can tie up your horse-one guy actually did. I stopped to say hello to the downtown coffee
clache comprised of men of all ages, the brain trust of Silver Springs solving the world's
problems by mid-morning. (See the actual picture of the coffee shop in this excellent NY
Times article about why this is a great town to visit)
Poured myself a cup of Joe and pulled up for the stories. Best story of the day came from the
cowboy who insisted that you are not a cowboy until "you mend fences in a snowstorm or
sleep with a newly born calf. All this rodeo stuff is just for show".
"So you're really a cowboy?" I asked that rail-thin young buck with the weather-worn face.
Scuffed up boots, jeans and a dirty cowboy hat completed the picture.
"Well, that is not who I really am. Cowboying is hard" he said as he leaned back on his on his
plastic lawn chair. "I'm really artist inside. I make contemplative rock sculptures you can
meditate by. I laminate the rocks I slice open in layers so you can look at the pretty colors."
Hmm, I thought. My expectations were becoming warped.
Next best story came from this tall person named Pat. All Pat said for ten minutes was that
gays ought to get married if they want and they ought to legalize marijuana.
"It's ok to smoke pot. I smoke dope, and I own two businesses" agreed the owner of the
coffee shop. "Me too" chimed in the two other gray hairs of this coffee circle.
I finally looked up at this Pat-lady dressed in a frilly dress and realized that Pat was a guy. A
not very attractive guy. No wonder her nose was so big, her name sexually amorphous and
his voice so deep. I knew I wasn't in Kansas anymore like Dorothy of the Wizard of Oz.
Rather, I was in the twilight zone of the New Mexico highlands, but the coffee was great.
Gender benders and pot smokers-this was not the small town Americana I expected- but it
was a very interesting divergence of opinions, a veritable cross section of thinking Americans
in tune with the issues of the day.
The coffee shop owner was a pretty together business owner despite being a dope smoker.
He benefited from getting an SBA loan for his eateries three years ago, fed them money for
the first year and now he is making money. No way could he get that loan today, he said.
For history's sake, stay at the Palace Hotel. Built in 1882, this old Grande Dame was located
in the middle of the historic downtown and will be where we go next time. The place is
beautifully re-done and it is in the middle of everything, and so is Vicki's Eatery the best place
in town for breakfast where we had a terrific omelet made with fresh vegetables.
What an engineering feat we saw when we walked the Catwalk Trail the next day. Located
sixty miles north of Silver City near the town of Glenwood, you walk on scaffolding suspended
above a roaring creek. The sheer canyon walls and big red boulders hundreds of feet above
us made us feel we were in never-never land. Seeing the enormity of building this apparatus
over a hundred years ago humbled us at the effort they went to build this and maintain this
pipeline to mine the silver.
We nearly had a heart attack when our dog took a flying leap off of a 45 degree slope and
disappeared into the blackness, chasing some furry animal. Princess flew into space and
disappeared. Landing on a bank, she realized what she had done and managed to crawl
back. No more off-leash dogs for us
West Texas was where we ended up next. Miles and miles of it-flat, dusty and desolate- as I
remember that landscape when I worked the oil fields there in the early 1980's.
You guys did not know that about me, right? I used to be a well site geologist, sitting on
exploratory wells from Oklahoma to Louisiana to Texas. Very interesting work, I camped out
next to drilling rigs as they punctured the ground. As the drill cuttings came up, I tested them
for oil and gas shows to report back to the company. . I was even on a blow out once.
Very scary when the jet engine roar starts and drilling tools start flying out of a flaming hole.
Most small towns we passed through on this marvelous trip have seen better days. We
observed hundreds of abandoned structures during the trip-boarded up stores, crumbling
shacks, empty diners and filling stations with no gas. Very few bright spots in the tiny towns of
Texas when young people have to work three jobs and working at Wal Mart and the Sonic
Drive In is the best employment around.
Marfa,Texas seemed lonely and deserted, too. That is, until we saw the magnificent Hotel
Paisano located in the center of town next to the railroad station where the Amtrak train
stops. The Paisano, built in 1930, was for the most part a cattleman's hotel for its first 40
years. Ranchers from all over the area had business meetings here and bought and sold
their herds from the lobby of the hotel. For a while, it was closed and boarded up before
experiencing its renaissance.
We could not get a room. I could not believe it. Cars parked all around, people milling about,
a sold out hotel and tour buses splayed about proved to us this was not your typical West
Texas town, ready to dry up and blow away.
Marfa, home of the "Marfa Lights", a ghostly apparition that nobody knows the source, is a
town replete with galleries, restaurants, and was where the movie "Giant" starring James
Dean was filmed. It even has its own public radio station.
Its many art galleries, which exhibit predominantly contemporary talent, both regional and
faraway, in media including painting, photography, ceramics, and sculpture/installation art
attracts tourists from all over. Great stuff of high quality
I got to tell you about a group from LA on tour from the Los Angeles Museum of
Contemporary Art. One sun glassed guy with stylish longish hair, designer jeans and an
attitude to match that completed the LA look was not a guy who would give you an old
fashioned Texas howdy when you met him. Rather, he would look you over, sniff and give
you a curt tip of the head. He was too busy appreciating his art to say hello,
None of these California art appreciators were particularly affable and that, ladies
and gentlemen, belies the difference between West Coasters and Midwesterners.
Have you noticed that? Let me know why you think that West Coaster Guy was so
rude, AND STAY TUNED FOR THE LAST INSTALLMENT OF DEXTER'S TRAVELS
| Economic Trip News You Can Use--Stories of the Wild West, Pt. 2 |