Why I HATE You

by Nick Johnson

I love having a blog because you can instantly and easily write posts when something inspires you.

I’m going to tell you why I’m a HATER, well, maybe not exactly but continue to read, you’ll have to draw your own conclusion.

If you don’t know, I love Twitter. I probably don’t use it properly. I probably say too many unprofessional things, maybe mix too much personal with business. Who knows, I truly use it to connect, interact and engage others. Maybe that’s not its intended purpose but I certainly don’t use it as an extension of my sales pitch (which I don’t think I even have)

I’m one of those weirdos who actually get excited that someone send me a Direct Message (DM) or an @ reply. If you ever send a message to @motiv8td you’ll probably notice I get back to you pretty quickly. Its not because I don’t have better things to do but I actually love someone that takes a moment of their time and interacts with me even if its in a small form of letting me know, I was on their mind for at least a split second. How cool is that for someone to be thinking of you, something you said or something you’re doing and they’re across the country, different time zone or even in a different country? I love it!

I don’t like holding long drawn conversations through DM’s or @ replies though. I would much rather go to email, phone or some other variation of holding longer conversations. This brings me to why I HATE you.

I received an @ reply today. I wont’ disclose who it was because unlike crappy Wannabe Guru’s I’m not looking to call this guy out. I would like to point out his inability to realize when someone who is very experienced and knowledgeable (regardless if I haven’t turned out to be a red pill product pushing guru ) is giving him actual and sincere advice without even using any F bombs or phrases like, ‘You’re Stupid’ like others have heard from me. Trust me, those guys deserved it.

So what did I say to him? Well, I told him lets move this conversation to email because he used a term I wasn’t familiar with and it probably would take more than 140 characters to explain it. Turns out, I think it’s a phrase he probably made up on the fly because what he was describing isn’t even possible. Someone else saw his same tweet and compared it to Santa Clause, Unicorns and the Easter Bunny. I couldn’t argue with it once I realized what he was saying.

This discussion was in the Short Sale world of REI and said some things that as an experienced, knowledgeable investor that I am, instantly knew it was a bad idea for this new(er) investor to get himself into. I expressed my concerns and told him to walk! Even great minds like Peter Giardini will tell you that some of the best deals he’s ever done are the ones he walked away from. Go ahead, ask him, he’ll tell ya that’s the truth.

What was his inexperienced response?

I wouldn’t quite say “I don’t know what I’m doing”.  Am I a newbie, yes indeed.  Honestly, you sound like a huge HATER so this is going to be my last message to you.  I have an A-B and B-C contract addendums that should have me covered as far as ‘assigning’ and deferring the majority of closing costs.  But what do I know…

Again, remember, I’m not going to call him out by name.  My hope is that since he won’t listen to me in email (BTW, don’t ever tell me that I’m a hater and this will be your last response to me, it doesn’t sit well with me because my advice and help is sincere, just ask John from ***john****it.com (using *’s for semi-privacy) when I asked him nicely if he’s ever cleared a short sale successfully because I was going to offer to give a boost but he responded with something dumb and I left it at that. I wonder if he’s done anything yet? Probably not.

Lets use this horrible mistake by this newer investor as a learning experience for yourself in how to treat those who has reached the level of success you so desire and is offering actual and sound advice.

I wouldn’t quite say “I don’t know what I’m doing”

Ok, understandable but, there is some evidence that you don’t, just sayin……….

Am I a newbie, yes indeed

Yes, and that’s ok. Everyone started out new.

This is where you don’t want to make the same mistake!

Honestly, you sound like a huge HATER so this is going to be my last message to you

Really? a Hater? I guess I do HATE you and that’s why I interacted in the conversation YOU started and was offering you experienced advice that put nicely, Stupid People pay for that I simply give out for free because I actually give a rat ass. Take it or leave it but, don’t call me a HATER or I’ll resort to my standard unprofessional and typical responses like your the dumbass douchebag that doesn’t know what the F you’re talking about broke ass. But, I won’t because again, I actually care, I ‘liked’ ya until now and I thought you were smarter than that. Maybe I was wrong? I hope I was. I really do enjoy interacting with others who are on their way up the success ladder. It’s exciting to watch and be a part of someone’s success while it happens.

I have an A-B and B-C contract addendums that should have me covered as far as ‘assigning’ and deferring the majority of closing costs

What can I say? I see two immediate problems with what you just said to me. First is ‘should have me covered‘. Really? You’re going to rely on ’should’. How about you listen to the guy that has made many more mistakes than you have and can help you from making the same mistakes. One of my most expensive mistakes was thinking ’should’ did cover anything other than my skidmarked underwear after realizing the level of my mistake that ’should’ have been covered.

Second is very easy to detect from anyone who has ever done a short sale in today’s market. The word ‘assigning’ does not belong in the same sentence as A-B & B-C because the entire point of having a A-B & a B-C is that ‘assigning’ isn’t even an option………just sayin. Double closing costs you money! Period!!!! Of course, it doesn’t need to be yours and transactional lending blah blah blah but if you’re telling me your offer is only $30k and you’re ‘pretty sure’ you could flip for $35k (this part was in the previous email by him) then again, as I said in the email to you, you won’t be able to make it happen. It will cost you more than $5k just to close it. Don’t believe me because I’m a HATER? Ok, fine! Instead of putting it into a course and then expecting you to pay for this information, I’m going to do something for you for FREE, take a look at the example using the exact numbers you said.

A-B side:

  • A & B Realtors commissions
  • Transactional lending
  • Closing costs (we’ll include all the title/closing costs here to keep it simple)

This would equal typically on average a total of 10% of the purchase price, in your case $3,000. Now, of course you shouldn’t be paying any of the closing costs on the A-B side if you do it right but there are times when the bank will only cover a certain % of the closing costs. This is more than likely something you won’t have to worry about if you’re experienced and know you can make the lender pay for all closing costs but, and I mean a BIG PHAT ASS if the lender says something like ‘We need to NET X amount’ and that amount is higher than $30,000.00 then 2 things are going to need to happen, One, you will need to help cover some closing costs or Two, you will need to tell the end buyer they have to pay more for the house than you just contractually agreed upon or cover the costs yourself. How well do you think those two options are going to go?

B-C side:

  • Realtors commission
  • Closing Costs
  • Processor fees

B-C side Realtors unless you miraculously as a newbie were able to ‘market’ a property that you don’t own nor have permission to market legally and found a buyer all by yourself. Then, maybe you could get away with not paying any Realtor commissions. For your sake, lets hope so because you now own the property and you’re into it for a total of $33,000.00 and you’re B-C contract says’ you’re selling it to them for $35,000.00 We’re running pretty thin here so far, lets keep going since I’m such a HATER.

Good luck trying to pass the closing costs onto the buyer. I am able to do this a lot of time because buyers are programmed by their buyers agents (I sell to retail buyers for the biggest profits btw) are pretending like they care about their clients and tell them to offer just below asking price (which I only sometimes accept, based on what I’m about to say outside of this isolated point) and I’ll usually accept it if they pay all closing costs. If I’ve got multiple offers which happens quite a bit, I’ll accept the highest that will pay for closing costs because I know ultimately, I’ll take more home than just to accept the highest offer in general.

In your case, lets assume you can’t make that happen because you’re not experienced enough to know how to think out the process and you probably didn’t read that in some overpriced course by a flashy guru. Maybe I’m wrong, and lets hope I am but would bet that I’m probably right on point so far. You’re going to have to pay the closing costs as the seller and guess what, they closing costs are not based on the $35,000.00 sale point, not the $30,000.00 price you bought it for. So knowing the realtors commission is going to run you 6% and closing costs will or ’should’ run you about 1.5 – 2% we’ll use best case scenario and say and go with 7.5% which equals $2,625.00.

I see a problem with that, don’t you? You only had $2,000.00 in profits to spare and now its going to cost you $2,625.00 to sell it. Who’s going to cover the difference? The buyer who you’re contractually bound to sell at $35,000.00? probably not.

We haven’t even discussed the processors fee. This would be the negotiator who you should have negotiating the deal for you. Don’t EVER rely on the seller negotiating the deal which in this particular case you are (I don’t think I mentioned that yet) which is one of the reasons why I said this deal will fail to begin with. You always negotiate your own deals!!!! ALWAYS!!!  You’re already in the hole $625.00 because you let someone else control the deal, how much more do you want it to get?


I can go on and on but I think I would have made my point by now. Let me make this perfectly clear so there is no mis-understanding. I actually care about you, your success and the path in which you take to get there. If you don’t like that then by all means, unsubscribe, leave and never come back. If you ever have a question, comment or just want to talk with someone that has made more mistakes than I have good decisions then by all means, I’m really easy to get a hold of.

  • Hey Nick,
    I wrote a big ol' response to this yesterday, but it wouldn't let me post it, so here goes again.. :) I know what it's like to be new at something, to have to learn from scratch, largely from someone that knows. So I recognize the value in listening to someone with good advice, regardless of how it is delivered. That's why when you called me a putz or whatever the first time we interacted on BP, that I kept on listening :) Your candid response to whatever stupid newbie thing I wrote intrigued me, so I studied up on you, and found out you were really a good guy that cares about peoples' success, and that's just the way you talk. I understand, if that guy was the sensitive type, why he might have taken umbrage to the delivery, but pity he couldn't see the forest for the trees and take some advice that would have saved his deal (or him from doing it in the first place). You offer for free what other people charge big bucks for, so in my mind it isn't your job to candy coat it too. There are plenty of people who recognize the value of knowing you, so if this one doesn't, his loss. Hope it helps.
  • Thanks Joe, btw, your dumbass needs to call me again. I haven't heard from you since we talked about your bandit sign campaign. You have my number, I expect a call.
  • haha damn ok :) I didn't want to bug ya until I had something good to report. I have some funny stuff, but no big, fat checks yet. Just got my hands on some seed capital, so within the next 4 weeks I expect to see some action.
  • My phone still isn't ringing.
  • Well, Steph, I certainly see why you and Shae were the only two telling me I was a little harsh. Maybe you're right, but maybe you're not. I'll keep my 'conquer & divide' attempts more subtle in the future ;)
  • Dang. You sure you didn't say anything else to him to make him react that way?

    I don't think I've ever had someone take that kind of attitude with me when I was trying to help. People are usually really appreciative.

    I think he owes you an apology...
  • Steph, good question! Here is exactly what I said copied and pasted from my email:

    1st response:

    Its a failed deal from the start!! Walk from that one.

    You NEVER and I mean NEVER buy or 'wholesale/flip' a short sale that someone else negotiated for you unless its YOUR negotiator who negotiated it. NEVER!!!!!!!!!

    I could go on and on about all the wrong things that already and are going to happen just from what you just told me. Walk away

    And, the 2nd response:

    you can't 'assign' them, you must double close on them. $5k is less than whats its going to cost you just to purchase and resell them. You can fail if you so choose, but I assure you, you won't be saying, "I told you so" considering you don't know what you're doing and certainly don't rely on your agents advice.

    This is what sparked the Hater remark. There were no other emails after that. You tell me, do you think I was being a little too harsh? As for an apology, I don't think I deserve an apology, I would like this person to realize they're making more than one mistake here and fix it for his own sake. We'll see, I'm bummed that he's currently broke and will be for a long time if he doesn't change his thinking on taking advice from experienced people.
  • Hey Nick, honestly I can see why your email wasn't well received. "You can fail if you so choose"....."you don't know what you're doing".... it just doesn't come off like an experienced investor who is sincerely trying to help. And all of this was after you did a NEVER and NEVER like 4 times....which wasn't so bad by itself, but the 2nd message sends it over the top.

    I know you and know your personality...plus I know for sure that you're always willing to be helpful...but still...if you want people to believe that you're sincere in your desire to help, know that emails like those don't do much to accomplish that.
  • so......apparently, I've got 2 votes that agree I'm a hater :( that's too bad. I guess I'll go to the standard up-sell style of helping people. Oh well, I guess it's something I'll have to deal with.
  • Yeah, Nick...you misunderstood my response. I didn't say you were a hater. As Steph said, it's obvious that you're not. I think you're a great guy, I was just giving feedback on the communication and how it can be taken in a different spirit from what its meant.

    I've definitely had incidences where people misunderstood my emails....and that's when phone conversations came in handy.
  • ...and one more thing before I be quiet :-)

    As someone who already has a relationship with you, it would be *much* easier to receive those words from you because I KNOW you. It's like when your family members or friends tell you how it is and just keep it real with you...it might hurt, but you know its good for you. You've been harsh with me before but I didn't take offense at all because I know you were only trying to help.

    And to be really clear, I'm not defending the response you received because name-calling isn't useful either, but I am trying to help you see how the response was possible.

    That entire thread could've gone down in a completely different way and led to the desired result (for both people) without you resorting to what you called the "standard up-sell style."

    And with that, I'll shut up now. Have a good weekend!
  • Hey Nick,

    You obviously are not a hater.

    I know you were just trying to help, but I think the tone of your email may have come off a bit harsh, especially if it was read by someone who doesn't know you from Adam.

    It sounds to me like it was a misunderstanding, and I bet if the communication transpired over the phone or face to face it wouldn't have gone down that way.

    It kind of reminds me of the time I wrote a post on my blog saying that my eBook was going to be on Oprah's eBook of the month club. I was totally being a smart ass, and I thought that everyone would know that, but there were a lot of people who believed me, and went on to congratulate me in the comments section. I just assumed people would pick up on my sarcasm, but sometimes it's hard to "read" stuff like that through emails or blog posts, especially if the people reading the emails/posts don't know the author personally.

    I think that is what happened in this situation.

    Not sure if that makes sense, but I hope it does...
  • strugglinginvestor
    I'm interested to see if this fella will read this post and then be able to eat his pride (I think you posted about that as well in the past) and apologize to you.
  • Wow... I'll never understand why some people don't take advice from people that have more experience than they do.

    I learned something for the day. I haven't taken into when doing double closings.
  • gregharris66720
    Some people get too caught up in B.S. and don't know the right people to listen to, or oversimplify to a point of complicating things to where they aren't even possible.
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