I am always being asked. “Doc what advice can you give me that will help me with investing. What tricks of the trade or inside tidbits can you share with me?? The best answer is you need to develop a “toolbox”.

Now before you go nuts scratching your head, let me define the areas of the tool box. The tool box has three areas.

1) Grey matter tools: This is the in your head part of the tool box. It is the manner in which you think about investing, the guidelines you use to select investments as well as ALL the information you call on every time the prospect of an investment even shows its self. It is the investment filter you have developed for yourself.

It is about gathering all the info you can in order to be able to think about investing and where it can lead you.

THINK ABOUT THIS: Every book store has some vast collection of books on real estate investing. You should take the time to add them to your reference library at home. Why? Because if some guru writes a book on RE investing that sits on the national booksellers ten best for 35 weeks…what do you think the chances are some one you will deal with has read that book? If you know what factors some one uses to make a decision…you have a better chance of influencing WHAT THEY DECIDE.

The E-tool box: Your online tool box. What websites are you useing online over and over. Most real estate investors only use a few sites. I have found this can lead to a sort of tunnel vision or what I call “INFO INPUT SHUT DOWN”.

Ok so how do you avoid Info input shut down? You have to open your tool box up to get some fresh tools.

Just go to the free email server of your choice…create a new email address that you will use to collect email updates/newsletters from various websites. then go thru them at your leasure.

Now dont be to hasty and unsubscribe after the first email. More often then hot the newsletter/updates dont deliver the “meaty info” in the begining…more often then not it comes as a series of newsletters. Look for Investment clubs that offer news letters as well as blog sites, news sites, etc. Any reference sits you can find I recommend bookmarking.

I ,myself, avoid most ad based emailing lists. however, that doesnt mean that all of them are a waste of time. review a few and decide for yourself if they are worth keeping.

Other online Tool box sites are certain “E tools”. These go way beyond having a mortgage calculator online. We are talking about tools that you are almost chomping at the bit to try. (I have to admit I have a few of these in my Tool box?I use them every day) When you find these tools you will just know it, find them and BOOKMARK them!

3) And last but not least… actual physical, hold in your hand, tools. It can be a great “go by list”. A solid flash light. anything that makes the time in the field looking at investments easier.

Build your tool box and USE IT.