STRATEGY
NOTES
Notes, Then and Now HOW THE TECHNOLOGY AGE HAS IMPACTED REAL ESTATE NOTE INVESTING. "Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don't think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without the talking about the other.” Bill Gates
byW. J. Mencarow
students. However, there are several who use the internet to sell multi-thousand-dollar courses and fraudulent "note funds.” Some have been shut down by the SEC, fined, and imprisoned. Over $2.3 billion was stolen from note investors in 2019 (see the November Paper Source Journal). My advice:
I
f you are under 40, the BI (Before Internet) era is almost impossible to imagine. The 1990s ush- ered the Internet Age (IA), and everything changed, including real estate note investing. And as it goes with nearly every form of technology, it comes with positive and negative effects. LEARNING NOTES BI Before the internet, there were probably less than a thou- sand people who had ever heard of note investing. I knew of two books on the subject and three note investors who taught seminars occasionally, charging a couple of hundred dollars to teach students pretty much all they knew.
• Never give money to anyone who promises that you will get rich.
• Never give money to anyone who teaches what they also sell. That is an obvious conflict of interest. No ethi- cal person will claim to teach you how to buy something at the best price and then try to sell it to you. • Never invest in a note fund. Always take possession of the original signed documents. Get a lender’s title policy.
LEARNING NOTES IA There are still a few teachers who don't rip off their
68 | think realty magazine :: february 2020
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