As we celebrate and greet all fathers out there a Happy Father’s Day today, I can’t help but look back at what I believe are just some of the most powerful words that caused a paradigm shift in me, when I read the book Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.

In the book, Robert narrated how his two dads’ way of thinking were worlds apart. In chapter one, his Poor Dad, who was actually his biological father, said “The reason I’m not rich is because I have kids.”. On the other hand, his Rich Dad, who was really the father of his best friend Mike, said “The reason I must be rich is because I have kids”.

Blaming others versus being proactive

Think about it for a moment. The Poor Dad was blaming his having kids as the reason he is not rich. Maybe he thinks that because of his kids, he has a lot more expenses, and he can’t save enough money he can use to invest in real estate for example. Maybe he thinks that he has no time left for real estate investing because he has to do his part to take care of his kids, which obviously takes a lot of time.

Rather than taking control of his life, he blames others.

The Rich Dad was totally different. I have a feeling he believes his kids are his inspiration to be the best dad he could be. He loves them so much that he wants only the best for them, and instead of blaming them, they have become the “big enough why” that fuels his passion to become truly rich and financially free. Without this, even one knew how to be rich, it won’t be sustainable.

He was proactive and took charge of his life.

Which would you rather be?

Why I’m glad I have read Rich Dad Poor Dad

At one point in my life, I too felt that I was trapped in the rat race because I became a dad. I felt I had no choice but to face reality that being stuck in the rat race is something that comes with being a father. I believe I had this feeling barely four months after my son was born way back in 2005, and It was just a month after I accepted a job in another company.

The pay was good, but I had to travel to Bauan Batangas almost every other day, and then I had to head back to the office in Makati in the evening. Keep in mind that after all of this, I had to drive home to Provident Village in Marikina back then.

Later on, my staff introduced me to the book Rich Dad Poor Dad, and after reading chapter one, I knew that I was not really trapped in the rat race. I realized that I should never blame my being a father if I was stuck doing something I would rather not.

From that point on-wards, I knew that I always have a choice. It was really up to me to make that choice, which I did.

Now I just have to teach my son CJ what it means to be a Rich dad who is truly rich, so that he himself can become one when he grows up and becomes a father, maybe in 25 years (my wife insists that should be at least 30 years from now) .

I believe the best way is to lead by example.

A Happy Father's Day greeting card from my son CJ (here's the cover)

A Happy Father's Day greeting card from my son CJ (here's what he wrote inside)

Happy Father’s Day!

To our success and financial freedom!

Jay Castillo

Real Estate Investor
PRC Real Estate Broker Registration No. 3194
Blog: http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
Follow me in Twitter: http://twitter.com/jay_castillo
Find us in Facebook: Foreclosure Investing Philippines Facebook Page

Text by Jay Castillo and Cherry Castillo. Copyright © 2011 All rights reserved.

Full disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

PS. Facing foreclosure? Tired of being a landlord? Need to liquidate your proprty because you need money? Click here to sell your property fast!

"The reason I must be rich is because I have kids" – a Father’s Day reflection is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

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I remember how good it felt to be able to help people in our office to do their work more effectively when we had setup an IT Support Helpdesk System way back in 2003. It felt great to be able to empower others. Little did I know that many years later it would also lead to a humbling experience.

For those who have been following Foreclosure Investing Philippines, you already know that before I got into real estate investing and internet marketing, I worked as an IT Manager in a multinational company.

One of the earlier initiatives my team did at the IT department when I took over as the department head was to setup a Helpdesk System that would help our colleagues in the office to do their work more efficiently and effectively by making sure all their IT related problems were addressed in a timely and effective manner.

In other words, we were there to help them finish whatever it was they were doing that encountered any problems related to IT, and that was a lot. It was very rewarding, however, because we were really empowering people. This went smoothly for about three years.

Things however started to change. The number of users, systems, servers, and computers grew in number to about double their original count, while the number of IT staff dwindled up to the point that there was only one left. No, that was not me.

I left the Company but returned (crazy, I know – who would’ve thought that the company I transferred to was worse than my former job) and I became number two, but it was a far cry from the five-man team we had when we were at full strength, while taking care of half the number of IT resources and users.

To alleviate the situation, we systematized what we did through standards, processes, and procedures. In fact, we became ISO 9001 certified, among a number of certifications the company I worked for was able to achieve, and I also became one of the internal auditors. We automated processes so well so much so that in spite of having the lowest budget among offices in the ASEAN region, we were one of the leaders in this area.

However, systems and automation can only go so far, especially if it lacked resources. In other words, we still lacked manpower.

When this all started, I was diagnosed with hypertension. And yet after another three years, the situation still remained the same.

This was the time when a question dawned on me, “As the helpdesk, we helped other people, but when the helpdesk needs help, who can help us?”

That question became a rhetorical question and I often used it to make a point when I discussed with friends my predicament. I simply left it at that, accepting that my problem had no solution that was within my control, except for me to move on and look for another job or another means of earning a living.

Thankfully, through divine providence, I finally mustered enough strength to become a real estate investor and also do internet marketing in my spare time. At that time, being a full-time employee, I really had no spare time. But somehow, I made time! Here’s a tip: If I can do it, so can you!

And as they say, the rest is history, and I am so thankful to have moved on to do what I believe is a higher purpose.

But it all came back to me during a retreat…

Yesterday, during the third and final day of the live-out Holy Week Retreat by Bo Sanchez, the same rhetorical question above suddenly came back to me. This time around however, it was no longer left unanswered.

The answer to my burning question “As the helpdesk, we helped other people, but when the helpdesk needs help, who can help us?” was simple. God is the answer!

Though I have always been thankful to God with the blessings that have been coming our way, it seemed my question above has been left hanging in my mind for the longest time.

But thanks to that wonderful moment yesterday, which was just one among many, the question was answered, and I believe this will finally bring closure to it.

The answer was really there all along, God is the answer!

In whatever difficulties that we may encounter in our lives, help is always there, from God himself, just like how he sent his only Son not just to help us, but also to redeem the world.

All we have to do is ask.

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” – Luke 11:9 NIV

Let us not forget to give thanks to our Almighty God who is always ready to help us no matter what, especially on this most glorious day that we celebrate today.

Have a blessed Easter everyone!

To our success and financial freedom!

Jay Castillo

Real Estate Investor

PRC Real Estate Broker Registration No. 3194
Blog: http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
Follow me in Twitter: http://twitter.com/jay_castillo
Find us in Facebook: Foreclosure Investing Philippines Facebook Page

Text by Jay Castillo and Cherry Castillo. Copyright © 2011 All rights reserved.

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An Easter Sunday Reflection: Who can really help us? is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

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Almost a year has passed since Typhoon Ondoy devastated what used to be our home in Provident Village in Marikina last September 26, 2009. We have obviously moved on. However, my wife Cherry and I have come to realize a lot of things during the past year and we would like to share these lessons here. These are in addition to the lessons learned I posted right after the floods last year.

Lesson #1: Fire insurance is not enough

What used to be referred to as Acts of God insurance coverage is now referred to as Acts of Nature or AON insurance coverage. Consider having this to protect your house, its contents, coverage for rental income (for your rental properties if any). I regret not having this because I already had plans to get AON insurance(plus coverage against burglary, etc.) for our house and its contents a few months before Ondoy struck, but I forgot about it.

The same goes for your car. Although my car was spared because I was not in Marikina during the flood, it had AON insurance.

Lesson #2: Properties under a Pag-IBIG housing have typhoon and flood damage insurance coverage

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that our house in Marikina had insurance coverage for typhoon and flood damage. This is one advantage of having a housing loan under Pag-IBIG as compared to other banks or lending institutions. Not to mention they also have Mortgage Redemption Insurance (MRI) which means your loan balance will get fully paid in case something happens to the borrower (terms and conditions apply of course).

Lesson #3: Never store important documents in just one location

We lost a lot of pictures, important documents like transcripts, diplomas, pictures, certificates, and pictures, sigh. Definitely, it’s best to scan important documents and pictures so that electronic copies can be stored safely in different secure locations.

You can have electronic copies with you in your laptop or with a portable hard drive, or you can even store them online. Another idea would be to have duplicates or photocopies which you can store in offsite locations.

Lesson #4: Always have updated offsite backups

It may sound geeky but I really advocate having offsite backups. After all, I was an IT manager once upon a time. During Ondoy, a lot of my important files and documents were not affected by the floods because I did not leave all of them at home. I had with me a lot of important documents, along with my old laptop that had a lot of my important files. I also had a lot of important documents inside my safety deposit box at the bank. I would like to reiterate the importance of having UPDATED copies or backups because I lost about 4 months worth of data in my desktop computer which got submerged at home because I did not sync its data with the data on my old laptop. Actually, I had an external drive that had updated files but I also left it at home, bummer.

Lesson #5: Consider renting a safety deposit box at your favorite bank

This saved all of my postdated checks, contracts, and other original copies of important documents. It only costs about 1,000 a year for a drawer with a depth and width several inches bigger than a legal size folder. Just make sure the bank’s premises is not in a flood-prone area to avoid what allegedly happened to this particular branch of a certain bank.

Lesson #6: Waterproof containers or plastic bags could help save your important stuff

Yes, I know it would not be practical to put all documents in a safety deposit box at the bank and a lot would have to be stored at home. I guess ziplock bags or maybe giant lock-and-lock storage containers would have helped protect documents against floods, although they will be useless for fires.

Lesson #7: Furniture made of plywood turn to pulp when submerged in water

Yes, our cabinets, bookcases, study table, even our bed from EDIA, all turned into pulp. The only things that withstood the floods were furniture made of narra, and the monoblock chairs. I suppose if you decide to live in a flood-prone area, consider using monoblock furniture… hehe.  Right now, we are renting a semi-furnished condo so we still have time to shop around for flood-resistant furniture, which we think are worthy investments.

Lesson #8: Having waterproof stuff is a good idea

The only thing I was able to salvage was my waterproof watch that I left in my cabinet. Even though my cabinet disintegrated and turned into pulp, the watch was perfectly okay as it should be. Now we try to buy stuff that are waterproof, like our digital camera for example. We replaced our flood damaged Canon Powershot A40 with a Lumix TS2 that is waterproof and naturally flood proof.

Lesson #9: Consider having a fireproof and waterproof safe at home

Now this can be quite expensive but the cost could be negligible compared to the cost of replacing lost documents. Reconstituting owner’s duplicate copies of Transfer of Certificate of Titles (TCT’s) or Condominium Certificate of Titles (CCT’s) would cost at least PhP50,000(based on what I heard) so this might be worth considering, if you really don’t want to opt for a safety deposit box. We opted for a safety deposit box, even before Ondoy.

Lesson #10: Have an emergency plan

Basic things like having an evacuation plan, what to do, where to meet, what things to have(like a rubber boat?), preparing a grab and go bag in the event that calamities like Ondoy would happen would be a big help. My wife is developing this for our family.

Lesson #11: Be proactive with where you buy properties

I’ve heard people say that Ondoy affected just about everyone and if we insist on finding a flood-free place to live or invest, we might end up with no options. But my point is, not everyone experienced 16-ft floods that could have drowned anyone that got trapped in the first and second floors. This is the reason why we are not rushing into buying a property as we need to carefully consider this aspect.

Others say that the flood brought about by Ondoy was a 100-year flood and we would be long gone before the next one is upon us a hundred years from now. But think about it, climate change is evidently already here, so how sure are we that the next 100-year flood would not come tomorrow, next week, or even next year? God forbid!

While we cannot stop typhoons like Ondoy, we can always be proactive and choose to live or invest in flood-free locations or at least a location that did not experience killer floods in terms of flood height. The Typhoon Ondoy Maximum Flood Height interactive map in google maps can help us with this.

Typhoon Ondoy Maximum Flood Height interactive map(Click to visit)

Lesson #12: Just because a property is near a river, it does not follow that it will get flooded

It may be hard to believe for some but there really are areas that were beside or very near a river but were not flooded at all by Ondoy. One such place is Riverfront residences in Pasig where we almost bought a unit.

Lesson #13: Just because a property is far from a river, it does not mean it will not get flooded

There were apparently a lot of places in the Metro that also got flooded even though they were far from any rivers or waterways. I guess this could also be one reason why they got flooded, water had nowhere to go to.

Lesson #14: Don’t forget to consider elevation, sufficient drainage or waterways, and actual flood height during Ondoy when evaluating properties

Consider these factors when evaluating properties before you buy. I do my best to keep this in mind when I come across potential properties. And the importance is magnified if you are looking for a property where you intend to live.

Lesson #15: Listen to your gut feel, spider sense, instincts, intuition, etc.

I still vividly remember when my wife and I passed by the Riverbanks Mall last September 26, 2009 at around 7:30am and I noticed the river’s rampaging waters which I found to be odd and very out of the ordinary. We have lived in Marikina since 2004 and this was the first time I noticed the Marikina river to be this strong. However, I just shrugged it off, even if it didn’t feel right, and I drove my wife to her office (she had a whole day seminar on a Saturday… GRRR!) and I proceeded to the DAP building in Pasig City to attend a public auction of foreclosed properties by RCBC Savings Bank.

I was never able to make it back to our house that day, even if I tried to right after the auction(that was around 11:00am). The closest I could get was up to Green Meadows but I had to turn back as floodwaters were already as high as the top of the tires of my car. Fortunately I was able to reach SM Megamall, and I waited there, not knowing what to do. Later I picked up my wife from Makati when she was finally dismissed from their whole-day seminar at around 4pm (GRRR!), and we desperately tried to reach Provident Village. We were able to park at the foot of the flyover in Aurora Blvd, and we started walking. We had to stop just before Riverbanks Mall as barangay tanods stopped people from going any further.

I’m just glad that everything turned out well, our son CJ was safe and sound thanks to her Yaya and also thanks to our neighbors.

Lesson #16: Calamities can bring out the best in people

Our son CJ was saved by his yaya Em, and we shall forever be grateful to her. I still remember talking to Em over the phone when the flood was just rising while I was stuck at SM Megamall and I just told her to leave everything in the house, including my new laptop, and stay with our neighbor next door. Not only did Em save CJ (would you believe CJ never got wet with flood water, yes its true!), she also saved our dog Stacy, by pulling her up to the roof of our house, and also to the roof of the 2-story apartment behind our house (Stacy is an adult golden retriever so imagine how heavy she is), and Em also managed to save my new laptop, with laptop bag and all, even if I told her to leave it in the house.

I also remember how our neighbor, who I’ll just call El-Kapitan, who helped save everyone that ended up at their house (including children, adults, and a few elderly people) by leading them all to safety. Everyone got to the second floor of El-Kapitan’s house and then they moved to the roof of our house temporarily (our house was a bungalow and it eventually got totally submerged).

From there, El-Kapitan gave instructions to everyone so that they can use an airbed to cross the floodwaters and reach the 2 story apartment at the back of our house. They managed to do this successfully before the airbed got punctured and lost air. From the roof of the 2-story apartment building, they used a ladder to cross-over to another 3-story apartment building, which was the safest place to be, and everyone was able to reach it safely.

I also can’t help but share how my brother-in-law faced just about everything to reach their house to ensure Mama and Papa were safe. He did this with the help of a group of men from a vulcanizing shop, and they used inner tubes and ropes. Imagine going through up to 20ft deep flood waters, in total darkness, while it was raining, and with very strong water currents.

They used the Meralco posts throughout the village as waypoints. My brother-in-law eventually reached their house although at times some homeowners from Provident Village threw rocks at them. They mistakenly thought they were burglars or looters that were apparently all over the place, even at the height of Typhoon Ondoy.

I’m also very thankful for all of the people who helped us with the cleanup and also with rescuing our dog that got stranded on the roof of the 2-story apartment. We rescued our dog a day after the flood receded with the help of some teenage boys who offered to help clean our house. It wasn’t easy to get a full-grown golden retriever (imagine how heavy she was) from a roof 2-stories high. I’m just glad those boys came out of nowhere and helped me, even if they were quite scared of our dog. After all, she was very big and could bite them anytime if she wanted to. This was a day after some thieves tried to steal our dog(more on this later).

By the way, my wife and I felt pleasantly overwhelmed with a lot of people who wholeheartedly wanted to help us. There were people offering their homes as a place where we can temporarily stay, we also received help in cash and in kind and a lot of moral support. There was even this one internet shop in Katipunan Avenue where they allowed us to recharge our phones for free. Calamities can really bring out the best in people…

Lesson #17: Calamities can also bring out the worst in people and everything in between

As stated above, there were a lot of looters and burglars running around Provident Village at the height of Ondoy, and this continued up to the weeks that followed. These thieves were targeting houses that were temporarily abandoned by their owners. Even before Ondoy, a lot of burglaries have been happening in Provident Village, I just never thought these thieves would actually take advantage of the floods caused by Ondoy to steal from the flood victims.

Remember our dog that got all the way up to the roof of the 2-story apartment building at the back of our house? She got stranded there when the flood waters receded the next day, and would you believe some people went there claiming she was their dog? The nerve of those people! Good thing the people who lived at the 3-story apartment building where my son and his yaya and our neighbors stayed knew we were the owners and told the impostors and would-be thieves that they knew the real owners of the dog.

One last thing. I remember a friend of mine who shared to me how frustrated she felt because she learned that instead of directly helping employees like her that got affected by Ondoy, the company she worked for just gave a donation to the ABS-CBN foundation, and they even e-mailed this to everyone, including the employees that were directly hit by Ondoy’s wrath. Although it was very commendable to donate to the ABS-CBN foundation to help Ondoy victims, I couldn’t help but ask myself “What the heck were they thinking?!”. I guess they didn’t love their own.

Lesson #18: Calamities help family and friends get closer to each other

We eventually stayed at my sister’s condo before we found our own place. A natural result of this was we got real close. I guess this was one blessing in disguise that happened because of Ondoy. My son CJ got to know his Tita beyond the weekly family dinners that we regularly had, and as expected, his Tita’s fondness and love for him also grew each day we lived with her.

I also got a lot of calls and text messages from friends who wanted to help in any way that they could, and the mere thought just helped raise our spirits. In a way I found out who my friends really were, and  those who really cared. I guess that’s just how Filipinos are. Having a calamity like Ondoy was a perfect opportunity to reconnect and help one another, and show that we really care.

Lesson #19: Calamities like Ondoy is the great equalizer

Everyone was a victim and there was no distinction between the rich and the poor, educated and not so educated, everyone was at the same level, and everyone needed help.  

Lesson #20: Getting attached to material possessions is futile

While material possessions are things that we all need to help us go through our daily lives, being attached to them is really not a good idea. It is a lot easier to move on without being attached, all material things can be replaced anyway. We lost just about everything we had inside our house and we were able to move on quickly. It helped that most of our appliances and stuff were gifts to us on our wedding, which means they were more than 5 years old already . Seriously, I believe this whole experience reminds all of us not to be too materialistic and attached to worldly possessions.

Lesson #21: Home is where the heart is

As real estate investors, we are often reminded not to fall in love with a property as it may cloud one’s judgment. I just never thought that this would also help when it comes to one’s own home, at least in our case. I realized that I myself was never really attached to our house in Marikina, I never had a problem leaving it as I knew that what’s important to me is my family and loved ones and wherever my family is, that is my home.

Lesson #22: Be careful with what you wish for

A few months before Ondoy, I also distinctly remember this thought of mine where I wished that there was an easier way for me to get rid of the clutter in our house because “junk” kept on piling up. Yes, I wanted to get rid of a lot of our stuff and with one fell swoop, everything was gone! Oops.  To be honest, I also wanted to dispose our house itself, not just the clutter in it, for a lot of reasons, but I never thought my wish would be fulfilled like this. So be very careful when you wish for something, and be very specific.

Lesson #23: Life is short so don’t waste time on things that are fleeting and unimportant

Things like too much work, too much TV, being pre-occupied with things that do not matter much if you think about it, are such a waste of time. Imagine if you were about to die, do you think you would have thoughts that would go like “If I had only spent more time at the office…”? I don’t think so!

Go ahead, try imagining the thoughts that would run through your mind if the end is near, you will surely think of those which matter most, then focus and give more time for them NOW!

~~~

After almost a year, I’m happy and thankful that our family has moved on and things have turned out quite well. My wish and prayer for all of those also affected by Ondoy is for them to have the strength and courage to do so just in case they have not yet moved on, and I hope that everything will be better.

I know there are a lot more stories out there along with more lessons learned from Ondoy. Please share them here, I’m sure a lot of people would love to read them, me included. Thanks for sharing!

To our success and financial freedom!

Jay Castillo
Real Estate Investor
Real Estate Broker License #: 20056
Blog: http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
Follow me in Twitter:http://twitter.com/jay_castillo
Find us in Facebook:Foreclosure Philippines facebook page

Text by Jay Castillo and Cherry Castillo. Copyright © 2010 All rights reserved.

PS. Are you a new visitor? Click here NOW to start learning more about foreclosure investing in the Philippines

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23 lessons learned from Ondoy is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

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This is an important update-PLEASE READ! I would like to share this update dated June 2, 2011 – After much thought, I have decided to leave Trace Trajano‘s local coaching program and my role as one of the local coaches. I would also like to inform everyone that I am not part of Trace’s other programs.

For those who don’t know, I was once a student of Trace, and I was also part of the team that won his first apprentice challenge, although I decided to leave the RYP team last September 2010. I became one of the local coaches as part of the now defunct Terrific Trio University. I also helped promote his seminars in the past including TRQ 1.0, TRQ 2.0, TRQ Cebu, his quick cash seminars, and the last one was TRQ 3.0.

It has also come to my attention that some materials that Trace used in marketing some of his seminars might make it appear that I am one of his partners. I would like to make it clear that I am not a business partner of Trace Trajano.

Things did not turn out as planned, but lessons have been learned, and I feel it is time for me to move on. ~ end of update ~

If you attended the recently held Think Rich Quick seminar last March 27, 2010, you already know that Trace Trajano has come up with an Apprentice Challenge. My teammates and I are currently competing in that challenge.

Can’t see the video above? Use this link instead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjlrpYFRoEY&feature=player_embedded

Why we joined the Apprentice Challenge

One of the reasons why we joined the challenge was because we also believe in Trace’s vision of having one million Pinoy millionaires by the year 2020, a vision that he shares with Larry Gamboa, best-selling author of “Think Rich Pinoy“. Don’t you want to be one of those millionaires?

One million Pinoy millionaires by 2020? You might think we guys are crazy!

But wait, I did the numbers and I found out that if I helped at least 4 people become millionaires through real estate investing in 2010, and each of these four also helped at least 4 other people after they become millionaires themselves, and so on and so forth, we would have 1,048,576 Pinoy millionaires by 2019! That’s one year ahead of schedule! We can even achieve this earlier if this was done as a team and if we continue to teach more people each year. Imagine that!

We also want to be mentored by Trace Trajano and his team. Why not learn from one of the best real estate mentors one can ever have, and a Filipino mentor at that?!

Last but not the least, even before the challenge, we already had plans to set up our own real estate company so we might as well start it now, with mentoring and guidance from Trace and the Think Rich Pinoy franchisees, and we also get to do it as a team.

What we’ll get if we win

If we win the Challenge, our team shall become Trace’s Philippine real estate company, and his business partners. Trace’s vision for the real estate company is to earn Php 1 million per month in revenue, through techniques like wholesaling, retailing, and rent-to-own where Trace is an expert. Sure, it won’t happen overnight, but who wouldn’t want a piece of that?!

If our team wins, we also get to help in mentoring the participants of the next Apprentice Challenge of Trace which is to be held right after the next Think Rich Quick Seminar, and that will happen barely six months from now.

As early as today, we are committed to impart our knowledge and virtually everything we will learn to those who are willing and are committed to learn real estate investing. Being Trace’s partners would really help speed up the learning process not just for us but for everyone else as well. In other words, if we had our way, no one gets left behind!

We will be more than happy to serve others by helping them learn the lessons we have learned, do what we were able to do, achieve what we were able to achieve, and so much more, just like what Trace often mentions where he actually looks forward to the day when his students and apprentices will become even better than him when it comes to real estate investing. Spoken like a true mentor!

But we cannot do this alone

Obviously, to be successful in real estate investing, aside from having an excellent team, you also need to build your network. I’m so thankful I am already part of such a team. The logic here is one person can only achieve a certain level of success in real estate investing, but this can grow exponentially with the right team.

However, even with an excellent team, we still need to build a network that would consist of partners, investors, buyers, sellers, brokers, agents, banks, contractors, appraisers, real estate lawyers, property managers, or just about everyone involved in the real estate industry.

What to expect if we win the Apprentice Challenge

A lot of you may be asking, “So you need our help, what’s in it for us?”. We will obviously learn so much from this challenge and one thing I can assure you all is that we will share as much as we can with just about everyone out there who is willing to learn from us and our mentors.

How do you know that we will do this? Well, I have been doing this ever since I started Foreclosure Philippines (formerly Foreclosed Real Estate Philippines). I believe we should all have an abundance mentality, where we believe that there is more than enough for everyone. I have been doing this for more than a year and I don’t intend to stop anytime soon. I’m really glad that my teammates also share the same belief. You can trust me on this!

We can also earn while we learn together. Why don’t we become partners even beyond the Apprentice Challenge?

Brokers, Realtors, and real estate agents that are such a big help in helping us get connected with sellers and find great deals can also help us sell or lease our properties to buyers and tenants, and possibly earn double commissions from us in the process.

We can partner with fellow real estate investors who either lack time or simply cannot do it yet due to physical constraints (like OFW’s or those with demanding full-time jobs) or maybe those who still lack some of the skills needed to go into active real estate investing. We can help them earn passive income by becoming investors for our deals, or we can do the legwork and take care of the nitty-gritty details either for them or WITH them if they really want to learn. These can include finding buyers and sellers, pre-qualifying them based on a set of criteria, analyzing deals, helping with the legal matters and taxes, assisting in working with banks, appraisers, contractors, or just about any challenge fellow investors may be facing right now or in the future.

Speaking of banks, we can easily help banks dispose their non-performing assets by either buying them or marketing them. We may even be able to help homeowners avoid the foreclosure of their homes which would really be a win-win situation for everyone.

We can also help those who need to sell their properties fast with the lessons we have learned about extreme marketing.

We can even help buyers find the properties they are looking for with the help of our growing network of partners.

In other words, if we win, we shall be in a better position to help others and our success will be everyone’s success!

How are we faring in the Apprentice Challenge?

I’m glad to report that our team is doing very well and is currently the front-runner of the Apprentice Challenge.

For those who are not part of the Challenge, the following are the first three Challenge rounds:

1. BONUS Round: Help the most number of OFW’s learn about financial literacy. We invited the most number of OFW’s and relatives to attend the OFW mini seminar and got first place.
2. FIRST CHALLENGE: The challenge was to sell a property in 3 weeks and we won first place because we were able to close the deal in a record-breaking 6 days! Nice!
3. SECOND CHALLENGE: Find a good deal for a buyer in 2 weeks and earn at least Php100K in profit – this Challenge is still ongoing and we are positive that our efforts will produce the closing sale we need early this week.

Three more challenges to go. More sleepless weeks, more brainstorming and strategic planning sessions, and implementation activities with the team.

Partnering with a Champion team

Do we get tired? Of course we do! Most of us have families, children and even full-time jobs (This excludes me. Remember, I just got out of the rat race recently! DJ is also excluded as he is living a life without a boss), and we need to cope with all of these every day while we are doing the challenge.

But we are willing to put our necks on the line for this worthwhile challenge because we believe in the principles behind everything that we do. The learning and the rewards are priceless. The experiences we get and the people we meet while doing the Apprentice Challenge are more than enough to give us the winning attitude. Even if we don’t emerge as the winning team of the Challenge, we will forever carry with us the heart of a Champion. And that’s the kind of team that is committed to partner with all of you. Nevertheless, we want to win this challenge!

Reality bites…

*Update as of September 2010 – I have officially left the RYP team. I’ll just say things did not turn out as expected, but lessons have been learned. So If you plan on being part of any future apprentice challenge, all I can say to you is… good luck!

To our success and financial freedom!

Jay Castillo

Real Estate Investor
Real Estate Broker License #: 20056
Blog: http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
Follow me in twitter:http://twitter.com/jay_castillo
Become a Fan in Facebook:Foreclosure Philippines fan page

Text by Jay Castillo with inputs from the now defunct RYP Realty Team . Copyright © 2010 All rights reserved.

PS. Are you a new visitor? Click here NOW to start learning more about foreclosure investing in the Philippines and don’t forget to subscribe to e-mail alerts and get notified of new listings of bank foreclosed properties, public auction schedules, and real estate investing tips. Inbox getting full? Subscribe through my RSS Feed instead!

The Apprentice Challenge – We need your help! is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

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A post by Cherry Castillo

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” – Proverbs 19:21 (NIV)

One of the things I like about long weekends is that I have the chance to read books for pleasure. I had thought before that law school has effectively killed my love for books but thankfully I discovered that it has not. For this Holy Week, I was able to read some books and I thought it would be apt to share to you my thoughts on “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren.

You may think initially that this has nothing to do whatsoever with Foreclosure Philippines. On the contrary, the “Purpose” is the driving force behind it. My husband is very fortunate to have found his purpose in life – Helping others by promoting financial literacy and financial freedom through foreclosure investing – and his tool in doing this is his site Foreclosure Philippines.

Many people, even those who have reached their seventies or eighties have not yet found their purpose in life and are still asking “What is my purpose in life?” or, as said in the book,”What on earth am I here for?“ (this includes me, although my husband’s purpose is big enough for the whole family so that will do for now) and so I thought it would be good to distill the book’s lessons for everyone to ponder on, most especially this Holy Week.

“The Purpose Driven Life”, being primarily a Christian book, lists a person’s five purposes in life (and the corresponding five greatest questions in life) as follows:

1. Worship – What will be the center of my life?
2. Discipleship – What will be the character of my life? [What you are, rather than what you do. Character is such a broad subject it deserves a separate analysis altogether.]
3. Service – What will be the contribution of my life?
4. Mission (to unbelievers) – What will be the communication of my life?
5. Fellowship – What will be the community of my life?

While most of the above are basically about getting to know God more, and spreading his word to others, which of course we all know we should do if we are Christians (I do not really want to get into a debate about religion mainly because I respect everyone’s beliefs and do not want to impose my own beliefs on others. I do not want to be preachy as well.), I would like to concentrate on no. 3 – finding one’s CONTRIBUTION in life. I believe that everyone, whether Christian or not, is innately good and has the innate desire to make a difference in this world. I found the tips in the book on how to find your contribution in life quite helpful.

Rick Warren summarized the guidelines on how to find your contribution in life in the mnemonic SHAPE, meaning:

1. Spiritual Gifts
2. Heart – Your passion, things you are passionate about
3. Abilities – Your natural abilities, what you are good at
4. Personality  – Whether you are outgoing or not, etc.
5. Experience – There are six kinds:
   1. Family experiences – What did you learn growing up in your family?
   2. Educational experiences – What were your favorite subjects in school?
   3. Vocational experiences – What jobs have you been most effective and enjoyed most?
   4. Spiritual experiences – What have been your most meaningful times with God?
   5. Ministry experiences – Have you served God in the past?
   6. Painful experiences – What problems, hurts, thorns, and trials have you learned from?

The book states boldly (and I cannot agree more) that a person’s greatest ministry will most likely come out of your greatest hurt. It is during times of failure and hurts that we think more, dissect and re-dissect the problem and how it happened, and how it could be solved or avoided, etc. I have in mind some areas I can concentrate on, based on the guidelines above. Nothing definite as of the moment though, but I am getting there.

Personally, I like to be simple in my thinking. The ultimate goal is eternal life in heaven. The penultimate goal is happiness on earth. Both could be achieved by helping others. Simple rules to live by: The Golden Rule / Love one another as I have loved you. As to how we can help others specifically, here comes the contribution, which we can hopefully discern by using the guidelines SHAPE above.

When you have a clear purpose in life, it gives your life meaning and direction. I have always kept in mind that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and without a clear direction and goal to reach, how can a person reach whatever destination he is aiming for? Life gives us so many choices, not just two for every issue, and even a matter as simple as what to eat can be difficult to answer as you have so many choices. Now if you have a Life Purpose Statement, it would be easier for you to keep your eyes on the goal. You will be able to separate what is important and what is not, and it will be easier for you to decide among the choices available.

The Life Purpose Statement is discussed in the book as follows:

• It’s a statement that summarizes God’s purposes for your life
• It’s a statement that points the direction of your life
• It’s a statement that defines “success” for you
• It’s a statement that clarifies your roles
• It’s a statement that expresses your SHAPE

Take time to craft your own Life Purpose Statement. If you go through life without it, banat lang ng banat (come what may), at the end of your life it would be difficult for you to  pinpoint what difference you have made in this world, if any.

I really hope this piqued your minds at the very least. There are moments in life when I think of philosophical thoughts – purpose, happiness, freedom, and success being on top of the list – these abstract things that are so hard to process but are essential to life. God gave up his life for us, and we are given time to reflect on His great sacrifice, not just this Holy Week but everyday. If we are able to determine our purpose and how we can help others as He has directed us to do, then we are one step closer to repaying Him for His gift, and making this world a better place.

Lastly, I would like to share this forwarded text message which we should all keep in mind:

“Let the season remind us that our life and the material things we have are just LENT to us. We’re all passers-by. We can’t bring anything when we die. We could only leave behind kind words and good deeds which people will remember us by. Let us love Jesus, the One who took our place.”

Have a blessed and meaningful Holy Week.

Cherry Castillo

Cherry is my wife. She is a certified public accountant (CPA) and lawyer.

—

To our financial freedom!

Jay Castillo
Real Estate Investor
Real Estate Broker License #: 20056
Blog: http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
Click here to contact me via E-mail
Mobile phone (Call/SMS): +639178843882
Follow me in twitter:http://twitter.com/jay_castillo
Become a Fan in Facebook:Foreclosure Philippines fan page

Text by Jay Castillo. Copyright © 2010 All rights reserved.

PS. Are you a new visitor? Click here NOW to start learning more about foreclosure investing in the Philippines.

PPS. Income-generating condo unit in QC available at a GREAT DISCOUNT!!! We offer a ready to move in condo unit located strategically in QC that will save you thousands of pesos! Act NOW as this opportunity is available until April 10, 2010 only. Click here NOW for more details!

Holy Week Reflections: Thoughts on “The Purpose Driven Life” is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

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The recently concluded fight between our very own Manny Pacquiao and Ghana’s Joshua Clottey was a perfect example of how not to win a fight by focusing too much on trying not to lose. What does this got to do with real estate investing? A lot! Read more below and find out.

Before anything else, I would like to make it clear that I am not a boxing expert, I just want to highlight some lessons learned from the fight which are applicable to real estate investing.

Wasted opportunity

Clottey’s tactic of trying to survive and focusing too much on defending himself simply cannot win fights. Of course every boxer needs to have a defensive strategy but a good offensive strategy should not be left out. Freddie roach said it best when he said “If I was his trainer, I would have told him to engage a lot more because that’s the only way to win fights”. In my opinion, Clottey wasted his once in a lifetime opportunity.

Play to  win!

In real estate investing, the same principles apply. To succeed in real estate investing, one needs to play to win and we do this by being on the offensive and “engage a lot more”. Just like how Manny threw so many punches (about 30 punches per minute… wow!) in his fight versus Clottey, we as real estate investors need to get out there and analyze hundreds of properties so that we can actually find more potentially good deals. The more potentially good deals we find, the greater the chance we will get to submit offers or participate in auctions for those good deals. The more offers we submit or the more bids we make, the greater the chance that we will actually end up closing that particular deal and win a worthy investment.

Of course it goes without saying that we still need to have a defensive strategy that will help ensure we don’t lose money on any of our real estate deals. We still need to do your due diligence and do the numbers. But unless we actually go out there and take action to pursue those deals, waiting for things to become perfect and the “planets to align” so to speak, opportunities in the form of good real estate deals will just pass us by.

I believe the easiest way to lose is by not trying to win!

Here is a video of the Pacquiao vs Clottey post fight interview. Enjoy!

Happy investing!

To our financial freedom!

Jay Castillo

Real Estate Investor
Real Estate Broker License #: 20056
Blog: http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
Follow me in twitter:http://twitter.com/jay_castillo
Become a Fan in Facebook:Foreclosure Philippines fan page
Text by Jay Castillo. Copyright © 2010 All rights reserved.

PS. If you are an OFW who is lucky enough to be here in Manila, Philippines on March 28, 2010, reserve your seats NOW for the free Secrets of Wealth seminar for OFW’s by calling  Joy: +63927-5707599, or Will: +63917-8580064/(632) 9645512. Remember, this is a free seminar so seats will definitely run out fast, and there are only 100 seats available. Act now and learn the secrets of wealth from Trace Trajano! Click here for more information about the free Secrets of Wealth seminar for OFW’s.

PPS. If you have a friend or loved one who is an OFW or who knows an OFW, please do them a favor and invite them to the free Secrets of Wealth seminar for OFW’s by Trace Trajano. The first 5 who refer at least 3 OFW’s that confirm and attend the seminar will get a free 1-hour consultation from me where you can ask me anything about investing in foreclosed properties (more about this in a later post). Just leave a comment below if you are interested or have any questions. Thanks!

Pacquiao versus Clottey post fight lessons learned: How not to win by trying not to lose! is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

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When friends and people I meet learn about what I do and see my passion for real estate investing, I am often asked how I was able to get into it and sustain the passion for it. Just how did I end up having this burning desire to get out of the rat race through real estate investing? Read on to find out.

Let us first define what passion is. Wikipedia defines passion as “…an emotion applied to a very strong feeling about a person or thing. Passion is an intense emotion compelling feeling, enthusiasm, or desire for something. The term is also often applied to a lively or eager interest in or admiration for a proposal, cause, or activity or love.”

Robert Kiyosaki also often mentions in his books that passion is a combination of love and anger.

I agree with both definitions and I use these emotions to sustain my burning desire to have a better life. Let me try to explain further by citing the following examples.

What I love that fuels my passion for real estate investing…

These compel me to just keep moving forward.

• I love having more time to live life to the fullest and not just for earning a living.
• I love having time to be with my loved ones and friends and this is not confined to brief moments away from my job.
• I love my family and I love having more quality time with them.
• I love having more quality time with my loving wife.
• I love being able to actually be with my son and be there for him as he grows up.
• I love being able to help more people and make a difference in this world.

This list goes on and on…

What causes my anger which also feeds my burning desire…

• Having to miss all of the above just because you have no choice because you are stuck in a 9 to 5 job. In reality, a 7AM to 9PM existence is more accurate and this usually gets worse as one climbs up the corporate ladder.
• Having to be an employee until you are in your sixties and beyond. Yes, even if you become the president of a company, unless you own that company, you are just an employee working for someone else. That’s the bottom line.
• Realizing that life passes you by as you do your best to earn a living while working yourself to death.
• The empty feeling after a job well done where you realize that all the sacrifices, time, effort, frustrations, rewards(or lack of it) are not really worth all the trouble. The keyword here is “job”. Don’t get me wrong, I know there are people out there who really love their jobs and also get a fair and just reward for doing their jobs well; I congratulate all of you who are lucky to find such jobs. I don’t know, maybe in my field (I’m an Information Technology professional), things develop at such a fast pace that the system is unable to cope and somethings got to give, somewhere, at some point, and usually it’s our health(due to stress) or our relationships(due to lack of time freedom), etc.

Again, the list goes on and on…

The key is to focus your emotions

Instead of letting the emotions get the best of me which I believe is a total waste of time, I would rather focus them on productive thoughts and actions. I let my emotions of love and anger fuel my passion and dictate the choices I make in each precious day that God has given me.

It really is just a matter of having the proper mindset where I combine these emotions to sustain my burning desire to have a better life and guide me with each task that I shall accomplish which shall in turn lead to my objective which is to get out of the rat race through real estate investing.

In each new day I face, I have already programmed myself with this mindset so that I will continue doing what needs to be done to have a better life… and that my friend is how I keep my passion burning for real estate investing!

“Stay hungry and foolish”

Lastly, I want to share Steve Jobs’ Stanford commencement speech which he gave way back in 2005 which I believe hits the nail on the head.

Let me quote a portion below which has also fueled my passion:

“… for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something “

How about you? What fuels your passion for real estate investing?

—

To our financial freedom!

Jay Castillo
Real Estate Investor
Real Estate Broker License #: 20056
Blog: http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
Click here to contact me via E-mail
Mobile phone (Call/SMS): +639178843882
Follow me in twitter:http://twitter.com/jay_castillo
Become a Fan in Facebook:Foreclosure Philippines fan page

Text by Jay Castillo. Copyright © 2010 All rights reserved.

PS. If you are a new visitor, please start here to learn more about foreclosure investing in the Philippines.

PPS. If you feel that anyone else you know might benefit from this post, please do share this to them and don’t forget to subscribe to e-mail alerts and get notified of new listings of bank foreclosed properties, public auction schedules, and real estate investing tips. If your inbox is getting full, you may subscribe through my RSS Feed instead.

How to keep the passion burning for real estate investing is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

I hope that got your attention! As we start 2010, I’m sure a lot of you have a lot of New Year resolutions and plans.  There’s really nothing wrong with that. However, I can’t help but throw the same question to you as I did to myself, when I started to make plans for 2010. Actually, I am throwing the same question not just to real estate investors, but also to just about everyone who happens to read this. Let me try to explain below.

Are any of your plans for the coming year the same plans that you made last 2009? If you actually failed to do some of them, then I guess it would okay to have the same plans, as long as you never really got around to doing them.

Maybe  you were just too lazy or out of focus(ouch!!!).

However, if you did manage to do what you planned to do, but did not get the results that you wanted, then maybe it’s time to consider other ways or strategies. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t mean that you should give up, what I meant was that maybe there’s a better way to achieve your goals or objectives.

If you believe that things did not work out the way they should for something, then ask yourself “How can I make this work?”, a question I often hear when listening to Robert Kiyosaki’s audio books. That something could be about getting started in real estate investing or finding more real estate deals, it could be about things getting better at work, it could be about your plan to lose weight (ouch again!!!), that something can be just about anything.

What’s important is that if you realize that you are not getting the results that you want, then by all means, sit down, think it over, learn a lesson or two, then go ahead and do things differently!

After all, “We all know the definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – as quoted from Robert Kiyosaki’s latest book – Conspiracy of The Rich.

—

I wish everyone success this 2010!

Jay Castillo
Real Estate Investor
Real Estate Broker License #: 20056
Blog: http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
Click here to contact me via E-mail
Mobile phone (Call/SMS): +639178843882
Follow me in twitter:http://twitter.com/jay_castillo
Become a Fan in Facebook:Foreclosure Philippines fan page

Text by Jay Castillo. Copyright © 2009 All rights reserved.

PS. If you are a new visitor, please start here to learn more about foreclosure investing in the Philippines.

PPS. If you feel that anyone else you know might benefit from this post, please do share this to them and don’t forget to subscribe to e-mail alerts and get notified of new listings of bank foreclosed properties, public auction schedules, and real estate investing tips. If your inbox is getting full, you may subscribe through my RSS Feed instead.

Don't be a stupid real estate investor! is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

During our lunch break at the office yesterday, I begged off from doing something which I have dreaded for the past 12 years in the corporate world, Christmas party presentations! You might be asking what the heck does this have to do with investing in foreclosures in the Philippines? Read on to find out.

This year it is going to be different
During this time of the year, most of us unlucky enough to be employed in a company who force employees to participate in Christmas party presentations that only cause undue stress and humiliation, dread the thought of being forced to go through it all over again. If some people want such activities then fine, let them volunteer for it, and spare those who don’t want to make a fool of themselves.

I really find it silly that people tolerate such a time wasting activity  during the time of year when people who really do work are busiest because of the reduced workdays and tighter deadlines, simply because it has been a tradition. I would rather have games and other really fun activities where people just need to attend the party and have fun, relax, and enjoy.  That’s what having a party is for, right?!

Since I have already decided to quit the corporate world (my last day is at the end of December 2009… yipee!), I said to myself that enough is enough and I did not attend our group’s practice for our Christmas party presentation that was to eat up half of my lunch break. Instead, I decided to visit the bank officer handling my account to pay for the fire insurance for a foreclosed property I recently purchased.

We always have a choice but…
Wait, before anyone of you thinks of quitting your jobs to start investing in real estate, bear in mind that I am at this point after more than 4 years worth of preparations and I already have income streams other than my earned income from my job. Besides, with or without my real estate investing activities, I can see that I really would have called it quits for a lot of reasons that I would rather not discuss here.

Whew, with that out of the way, let me continue by saying that although we always have a choice, there are times when making the choice is really more difficult. In my example above, it was easy for me to choose paying for the fire insurance for my property over practicing for a dance number where a forty year old like me will have to wear a mini-skirt and dance to the tune of “Nobody nobody but you” by Wonder Girls… such an unpleasant thought, definitely not my idea of having “fun”.

But what if you had to make a choice between your son’s first ever recital and a conference call with your counterparts from abroad. How about choosing between being with your wife on her birthday or to be in Singapore for a regional meeting or spending your birthday with your wife and son or be in an annual planning session… the list goes on and on. I had to make these difficult choices in the past. Not anymore…

Just what is time freedom and how do you get it?
My definition of time freedom is being able to spend your time freely to do what you want, when you want, and with who you want. I believe that time freedom is a by-product of having passive income streams, and a good example would be those from passive income generating properties.

How? Buy a foreclosed property with a good enough net operating income to produce positive cashflow, fix it up, rent it out or sell it through a lease option. Might sound easy but it’s not, keep in mind it took me four years to buy three foreclosed properties. However, if this will help me get time freedom, then I believe it is all worth it. Besides, although it is not that easy, it is definitely possible and is not as difficult as you think.

So the next time you feel like giving up on real estate investing, just watch a video of your Christmas party presentations and ask yourself “Do I really have to do this…?!”. It just might help you snap out of it. Merry Christmas everyone!

—

To our financial freedom!

Jay Castillo
Real Estate Investor
PRC Real Estate Broker License #: 3194
Blog: http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
Follow me in twitter:http://twitter.com/jay_castillo
Become a Fan in Facebook:Foreclosure Philippines fan page

Text by Jay Castillo. Copyright © 2008 – 2011 Jay Castillo. All rights reserved.

PS. If you are a new visitor, please start here to learn more about foreclosure investing in the Philippines.

PPS. If you feel that anyone else you know might benefit from this post, please do share this to them and don’t forget to subscribe to e-mail alerts and get notified of new listings of bank foreclosed properties, public auction schedules, and real estate investing tips. If your inbox is getting full, you may subscribe through my RSS Feed instead.

The importance of time freedom, one example why I want to be financially free is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

I was cleaning out my archived emails in preparation for returning my company issued laptop when I stumbled upon this very interesting story in one of my emails in my sent items. I forwarded this same story to my friends way back in January 2006, a few months after I first read “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki. This was the time when I experienced a paradigm shift in my head after reading the book and started to devote most of my spare time to learn all about passive income, getting out of the rat race, and financial freedom.

Although I read this story almost 4 years ago, I still want to share it with all of you here as I believe that the story clearly illustrates the difference between earned income and passive income. Enough of the chitchat, please continue reading the story below…

A Parable: Creating a Stream

Adapted from an audio segment by
Robert Kiyosaki, best selling author of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”

A Spring Runs Dry

The story is told of a spring that ran dry in a small mountain village. The leaders gathered to determine how they would supply the village with clean water. There was another spring and reservoir about a mile away but was too far for the villagers to travel.

One of the men volunteered to solve the problem by carrying water into the village himself each morning for a set fee. Since the need for water was clear, the leaders agreed to the offer and determined a fair price for each bucket of water delivered.

Early the next morning the “bucket carrier” arose and began transporting water. It was hard work but he was pleased with the immediate pay for his efforts. He awoke each day and hurriedly carried water.

The more he delivered, the higher the pay.

As time went on, he began to think there had to be a better way. So,he designed buckets that could hold more water and were easier to carry. He bought better shoes and discovered a quicker route between the reservoir and the village.

The problem was, despite all his improvements, the bucket carrier still had to get up each day to carry water.

A Better Solution?

Some time later, another villager came forward with an offer to supply water. He planned to build a pipeline from the reservoir to the village.

The leaders were skeptical but eventually agreed to the competing plan, especially since the new proposal would cost the villagers less for the same amount of water.

So, while the bucket carrier continued his daily routine, the second man began work on the pipeline.

The digging was tedious through the treacherous mountain terrain. The necessary tools and materials proved costly but he continued his work diligently for many months.

Finally, the “pipeline builder” installed the last piece of pipe and ceremoniously opened the valve while a crowd gathered. Everyone cheered as they watched clean water flow into the village cistern.

How Things Changed!

The following day the two men’s worlds changed dramatically.

The bucket carrier had to lower his prices significantly to remain competitive. He worked harder and yet found himself worrying about losing his job.

The pipeline builder, however, began enjoying the fruit of his labor. He stopped working long days and began enjoying the income his venture generated. He found the pipeline required minimal maintenance, so he was free to spend his days fishing the mountain streams and enjoying time with his kids.

Years Later

Many years later, after both men had died, the pipeline was still an integral part of village life and the pipeline builder’s children continued to enjoy the benefits of a father’s entrepreneurial spirit.

Observations…

	Bucket Carrier	Pipeline Builder
Description	Employee – Has a job	Entrepreneur - Owns a system
Income Type	Linear Income	Ongoing Income
Effort	Constant	Intensive early with minimal later
Implications	Time Poverty	Time Freedom
Reward	Immediate gratification (paycheck)	Delayed Gratification (fees for service or royalties)
Examples	Construction worker, Doctor, Secretary, Lawyer, etc.	Author, Inventor, Artist, Musician, Business Owner, Entrepreneur, etc. (Real Estate Investor)

Consider building a pipeline…

It doesn’t matter how efficient you are at “carrying water” (your job). Nor does it matter the size of your paycheck. Going to work tomorrow, next week and ten years from now will still be the prerequisite to collecting a paycheck.

When I forwarded this story to my friends almost 4 years ago, I had no idea where this adaptation came from as this was not in the book Rich Dad Poor Dad. Now I’m quite sure that this was adapted from a story in “The Cashflow Quadrant”, also authored by Robert Kiyosaki as I have just finished listening to the audiobook version  for the nth time and I heard this story near the beginning of the book.

Coincidentally, I also remember that a friend of mine and I were able to watch another version of this story just a few weeks ago when we were invited to a presentation by a certain multilevel marketing company. They showed a video of this story to prospective recruits. By the way, Roel of bloggista.com also shared a video of this version of the story through one of his posts and you may also watch it here: The Story of Pablo and Bruno.

My Insights

This is exactly the kind of passive income stream that I started to create through rental income by investing in foreclosed properties. It wasn’t easy at the start and it took quite some time. Keep in mind that I started on my quest 4 years ago. I guess what really matters is I decided to start and take action and I am still able to sustain it  after all these years in spite of the challenges that I faced, and I’m sure there will be more challenges ahead. One of the things that keeps me going is the vision that as long as I continue doing this, I will eventually be able to create a big enough passive income stream which would allow me to stop carrying buckets.

So what bucket are you carrying?!

—

My vision – financial freedom for all!

Jay Castillo
Real Estate Investor
Real Estate Broker License #: 20056
Blog: http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
Click here to contact me via E-mail
Mobile phone (Call/SMS): +639178843882
Follow me in twitter: http://twitter.com/jay_castillo
Become a Fan in Facebook: Foreclosure Philippines fan page

Text by Jay Castillo. Copyright © 2009 All rights reserved.

PS. If you are a new visitor, please start here to learn more about foreclosure investing in the Philippines.

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A parable on creating a Passive Income Stream is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

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