Did Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s Dream come true? In spite of some people’s ignorance, I say Yes!

J.Lamar Ferren here and I want to share something very personal with you that I never shared with anyone until last year. I’m always about keeping it real and not sugar coating anything.  First off, I never truly understood racism and I probably never will truly understand what causes one person to hate another simply because of the color of their skin. I think its truly hateful and immature. However, just because I denounce it does not mean that it will go away…

One day an investor from my list sent me an email and said they wanted me to help them with some leads they were working on. She put together a small list and asked if I would do a 3-Way with her. She went on to tell me how frustated she was because she could not “convince” any sellers to do a deal with her and that she needed to make something happen. She didn’t understand what the problem was. (Rule #1: Never try to CONVINCE a seller into doing a deal)

Although I knew what the problem was, I agreed to do a 3-Way call with her, as we were planning to work these deals together, help sellers and buyers, and put some cash in our bank accounts. Gotta love creative real estate investing!

Anyway, as we called the first seller, I decided to change my style up a bit because I wanted to prove a point. As we began to speak with the seller about the home, I had already identified 5 minutes into the call that this was NOT a motivated seller. They were giving me so many clues based on the questions I was asking. The main clue was that they did not NEED to sell their home. In fact they didn’t even have a true PROBLEM for me to solve. Again, this was 5 minutes into the call.

This is when I decided to switch my style up a bit….

I then started trying to convince the seller how I can help them and basically how my special financing was the best thing since sliced bread. I kept going on and on trying to hit the seller from so many different angles and he just kept shooting me down. I kept pushing and pushing and this basically went on for 28 minutes… (It wasn’t a pressure call because he still wanted to sell, he just didn’t need to)

Until things turned a little ugly….

Now before I tell you this, I want you to realize that there was no frustration on either end at all. In fact, I was being kindly rejected over and over which made it so clear that this call should have been ended. Anyway, as I was about to wrap this call, here is what the seller said to me…

“It wouldn’t make sense for us to do this deal because I’m an investor too and I’m trying to make money on this home.”

I said, “I understand, thanks for taking the time to speak with me and good luck with your home” and as we were about to hang up, I said one more thing…  “You know since we’re both investors maybe we could get together on some deals in the future and make some money. You, me, and my partner…”

Then he said, “Oh no I couldn’t do that, I could never partner with someone that wasn’t of the same face.”

Bewildered beyond anything you can imagine, I said….Huh?

Then he said, “Look, its complicated… I just wasn’t brought up to deal with anyone that was not of the same face as I was.”

I quickly ended the call… “Ok well bye!” < Click >

The investor I was on the phone call with was dead silent… Then I said… “Wow…um..so are you ready to analyze this call.” She said, “Yeah, but I can’t believe he just said that… I’m so sorry Lamar I didn’t know.. I said, “You know what, don’t ever apologize for someone else’s ignorance. I have no clue where all that came from, but I’m not going to let it hold me back an neither should you… Let’s just analyze the call and move onto the next.

So basically the overall point I wanted to prove to her was that you should never try to “CONVINCE” a seller to do a deal with you. This is what I learned from my mentor TC. It’s just not worth it. By identifying a seller’s motivation early on you will save yourself so much time. Not only that, but I also told her that just because some people might try to hold you back and say hateful and hurtful things to you, does not give you an excuse to stop going after your dreams and goals.

Imagine if Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr…kept that dream all to himself. Saying “It was just a dream”

Imagine if through all the pain and suffering he went through, he just gave up…

Some people might think I should have stooped to that seller’s level and cussed him out… maybe even threatened him. But I was never brought up like that. Nor do I conduct business in that manner.

I will never hide who I am and where I came from. If people can’t except me for who I am, then I don’t conduct business with them. Bottom Line!

I work with people based on the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

I think  racism is just plain stupid and immature. People need to get over it. America is one of the most diverse countries in the world and it’s not going to change, so people need to accept it and move on.

I know everyone isn’t hateful like that guy was and say what you want, but January 20th, 2009 was a beautiful day for everyone in the world to witness.

I’m still hopeful that change can come to America, but the question is will Change come to your life! What will you do to contribute to the change you seek?

To our success,

J.Lamar Ferren
New Breed Real Estate Investor

Ps. Whatever motivation you feel whether it be today, tomorrow, or any other day. Channel that energy and go after your dreams wholeheartedly. You can do it! Embrace change in your life.

What will you do to change your own life in 2010!

God Bless!