The American housing market may have officially crossed the line from correction to stabilization. Historically, after stabilization the phases are recovery and revival. All entrepreneurs should take a close look at real estate investment opportunities over the next few years, since this is when the money is really made.

As you can imagine, timing the real estate cycle is critical to achieving big returns on investment. Of course, there are other strategic objectives like picking winning markets, purchasing investment properties, increasing value by rehabbing the property, maximizing cash flow in any market and more. This article, though, is dedicated to the market cycle, how it works and where we are in it.

Visualizing the cycle in its entirety is the easiest way to grasp its predictability. But in order to see the pattern you have to zoom way out and see the forest through the trees, as it were, because one pulse in investment properties takes 12 to 15 years.

Now, consider the following two cycles of median home prices. The first, from 1983 to 1996, started with the economy in rough shape. Then an economic boom pulled real estate and the Dow index way up. It was a big party, everyone was making money, and then banks got a little crazy with their lending standards and the whole thing went off the rails — stock market crash, massive bank failure, real estate market correction and a serious recession. You know the rest of the story.

In summer of 2009 I predicted values to hit bottom in summer 2010 and stay flat for five years, only to go back up significantly when tax-cutting becomes the policy and the economy booms again.  Note that price point will play a crucial role in recovery.  Entry level housing will see recovery long before the luxury home market sees the light of day.  Some markets across the country will emerge much sooner than others.

The good news is that it’s pre-boom all over again. The better news is that now you are aware of it at a very early point, so it’s the perfect storm.  And the best news is you have plenty of time to get your assets in gear and take a position.

You don’t have any liquid assets at present?  Your credit score is shot due to the impact of the recession?  You fear taking that leap back into the REI market because of the unknown?  Then you probably need to speak to a real estate mentor.  I suggest you check out the Mentor for Life business plan that I put together with my awesome team.  It may just be your answer to the foregoing questions.

As a real estate mentor with students across the U.S., I have been getting reports from my joint venture protégés about their individual experiences.  The company I founded, Mentor for Life!™, works with driven entrepreneurs in their respective local territories.  There is one comment I am getting more than all else and it has to do with the challenges each small business person typically encounters on their own.

Before I get to that I want to address the fact that anyone that desires to make a go of it in real estate investing needs to assess their intentions and frame of mind prior to writing their first offer.  In fact, I feel it is imperative that every new prospective real estate investor, whether wholesaler or “Fix and Flipper,” should be mentally prepared to 1) make sacrifices and 2) wait patiently.

Those in Mentor for Life!™ often hear me talk about “stuffing the pipeline” with deals.  There are very good reasons for this.  For one thing, many deals take time to close for one reason or another.  It would be foolish to start prospecting for a property and then do nothing at all until the transaction actually closes.  Stuff the pipeline with deals so multiple opportunities can be cultivated simultaneously.

Secondly, it’s a fact of business that deals “go south” or fall through.  How many offers might you make before one is accepted?  Anyway, if we have the proverbial pipeline stuffed with prospects we won’t as likely be overtaken with disappointment if we lose one.  There would be others in the mix.

Now let’s return to the field.  I often hear my new students overly-anxious about closing on a certain property and as a result I have to get them to step back momentarily and take a breather from the negotiations.  If their frame of mind is in a state of scarcity they will likely enter negotiations handicapped and either leave money on the table or lose the opportunity altogether.  This is just another advantage of having over two decades of real, hands on experience.  It is experience that I am glad to share with all my JV partners.

Greetings from 37,000 feet!  I am on the plane to meet up with one of my new Territory Managers in Mentor for Life™, a real estate mentor program for serious entrepreneurs.

Anyway, I was thinking about how much of a challenge it is for those who have no one with prior experience and a willingness to share it.  From the beginning of time the traditional (functional) family unit provided all the mentorship a child needed to equip him/her for the world.  If one was raised in a farming community, the training would focus on farming and if it was fishing, that was the career the youth could expect to be mentored in.  Often, with the loving supervision of two caring parents, one could pursue that path with confidence.

However, with the advent of the industrial revolution things began to change.  Life became more complicated and choices abounded.  This spawned an awareness and further advancement and just one hundred years later we beheld the personal computer and all the complexities it brought with it.  Now, the advances we use to read about in comic books as kids are a reality…even for kids!

What this is all leading to is the blatant reality that the world of real estate investment has become a complex and varied proposition.  You want to venture into real estate investing?  Fine…but you need a mentor.  And chances are that your parents, no matter how well meaning, are/were not qualified to give you what you’re going to need as you explore the ominous world of 21^st century investment.

At first, this may be a huge step for many.  Those enrolled in my Mentor for Life™ know they can always contact their mentor because they qualified to be a part of my team.  I was thinking, though, that those who aren’t may have some simple, general questions about mentorship.  Since this is probably the case with sincere folks across the U.S., I have decided to open the door to anyone with genuine queries about real estate mentorship.  For a time, I will personally answer anyone’s questions about mentorship free of charge.  I can be reached at cjlauria@invesdoor.com anytime.  Due to our nationwide scope of influence I suggest you allow 48 hours for a reply as I haven’t found a way to clone myself.

In the meantime, I recommend you consider this:  The greatest hindrance we encounter is our own fears. When starting a business for the first time, fear of the unknown can be paralyzing.  A qualified mentor has been down that road and can validate certain feelings that you’re experiencing as well as identify erroneous perspectives you may manifest.  In today’s business climate, “supply and demand” is still the key issue.  This time the demand for true, qualified mentors has never been greater, but the supply is limited.  I look forward to hearing from you soon.

“Mentor for Life”™ What a concept.  The mere title indicates that long after one is trained and coached in the desired career path, the Mentor is still available because he cares about his protégé.  In a moment we will discuss why this concept is so effective and how it is possible to achieve.

In my last two articles in this series we discussed the need to have a real estate mentor who is seasoned, a good instructor, innovative and full of integrity.  Now we want to examine if and how it is possible to have such a mentorship in the field of real estate investment.

Let’s face it:  When we talk about a real estate mentor we visualize someone who is 1) not a kid and perhaps 2) a multi-millionaire from his/her many successes in real estate investing.  There are so many scams on the internet that it can make your head spin.  That is one of the reasons I am so passionate about bringing some integrity to the profession.  My “Mentor for Life”™ business plan is just that means by which I intend to provide honest value in training, coaching and mentoring to the real estate home business person.

So what does it take to convince a highly successful real estate mentor to take you under their wing, so to speak?  It’s all about vested interest in your business.  Honestly, why else would someone with this kind of background practically adopt a student as if they are their own child?  It’s simple:  They are still a business person with a business mindset.  If they can have a number of students in multiple locations it would be possible to tap into many markets at the same time.  Even a little piece of the action represents a huge portion of profits if the protégé is successful.

Therefore, while training and coaching are essential, real mentorship involves concern about the outcome with the future in view.  This is the basis for “Mentor for Life”™ and itreally works.  You see, in this type of arrangement, each students maintains their autonomy as individual real estate home business entrepreneurs.  Nevertheless, they enter a joint venture agreement with the Mentor for all subsequent deals.

In my business, it has laid the basis for some very nice long-term relationships.  I like people and the team that we have formed is fun and inspiring.  Hey, sometimes one of my students comes up with an idea that I had never before entertained.  With this kind of synergy we have been able to move on to some bigger and better avenues of real estate investment.

Is this type of plan right for you?  More importantly, are you right for a “Mentor for Life™ partnership.  In my next article, as the final part of this series, I will run through some of the criteria we use to determine an applicant’s qualifications.