"The winner's edge is not in a gifted birth, a high IQ, or in talent. The winner's edge is all in the attitude, not aptitude. Attitude is the criterion for success." ~ Waitley

Make your message strong, passionate, potent -- but fair, factual and palatable.

If a message suggests that the writer or speaker has lost control, even if the message is sound, it will not be heard.

Your 'voice' must be pleasant for your message to be received. Read what you wrote into a recorder and  listen. Would you like the message? Especially in the 'flat' medium of writing, give your readers a LOT of latitude for filling in your blanks with their imagination. :)

You cannot force feed truth. You can only sprinkle it about and see if it sprouts.

It is human nature to resist being strong-armed to do anything. Gotta find a way around those resistance triggers and attract the attention you want.

Remember that your peers, consumers and POTENTIAL CLIENTS can read your words.

Don't be too scary to be awesome.

Insecurity is scary.

Defensiveness is scary.

Arrogance is scary.

Exclusiveness and condesencion...super scary.

You can't engage people who are scared.

Stepping back to breathe and re-editing BEFORE you hit the 'Publish' button is good practice.

This is a public service announcement...WITH GUITARS!

This life is more than just a read-thru...

Grocery shopping is not my least favorite chore, but it's one I can't spend too much time on and accomplish everything else I'm working on (like taking over the world and the laundry, for instance) :)

So I'm a grocery store sprinter...

I make a list, check off items as I go, shop where I know what is where and don't linger anywhere too long.

If the lines aren't too long and there aren't a dozen of those kiddie cars that take up entire aisles, I can usually get in and out with a half a page list in half an hour or less.

It occurred to me that social media is like grocery shopping in a few key ways:

1. Pick a lane! Don't spread yourself too thin that you forget to form relationships.

2. Don't hold up the line. Leave 'pregnant pauses' in your communications and leave others wanting more--not less of you.

3. Smile! You never know who might be watching or listening.

4. Take it outside. If you have really personal or 'inside' issues, take them to a phone call, text, email or IRL meeting.

5. Take your time. See #1 and stay clear of the center, but make sure to stop and admire others' contributions.

6. Watch the kids. Leave ego or insecurities behind and ground yourself.

7. Have exact change or your debit card ready. Be respectful of others' rights to their freedom. opinions or creativity.

8. Say Thank You. Politeness counts.

There's more, of course...but this should help you get to the Express Lane!

It's Fall on the Beautiful Colorado River and that means some crisp windy days to go with the sunshine! Luna got a new windbreaker in her favorite pink, and we set out to see some Sunday sights...

You might think the poor pooch is disgusted when her crazy human insists on babe-ing her out like this.

Nope. She LOVES to dress up and go out. Because she KNOWS it means she's going out to see all her friends.

Luna's taught me all the right things to know about social networking:

Smile at everyone.

Make the first move.

Don't take it personally if not everyone loves you.

And be kind to critters both bigger and smaller...

There's a story about a large diesel truck that got stuck under an overpass on a busy metropolitan highway.

The truck was too high to clear it and became lodged in. It could not move forward or reverse.

2 lanes of traffic at a dead stop.

An overpass in jeopardy.

Not to mention a 100k truck, and the livelihood of the operator.

The best city and transportation engineers were called in to assess the situation.  They toiled with intricate calculations, argued theory among themselves and made involved recommendations.

Not a single one could come up with a solution that didn't involve 'collateral damage'.

A young boy watching the incident said, "Why don't they just let some air out of the tires?"

His father told a police officer nearby, who passed it along to the work crew.

The truck, lowered the critical few inches, could then be driven away with minimal damage.

Overpass unscathed.

Highway de-congested.

Life resumed.

In our world, and never more than this overstimulated, hyperverbose, overly competitive world of Web 2, while people clamor to be first to find complicated solutions...the simplest are still usually the best.

When you have a problem...set the stage for solving:

• Stop for a moment and ground yourself. Have a bit of food or a drink of water. Sit quietly. Breathe deeply. Close your eyes. Turn off distractions. Clear the mental clutter.
• Determine the ideal result.
• Determine the immediate obstacle to reaching the ideal result.
• Remove that obstacle.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Many years of college, many published articles, many raving fans will not ensure wisdom.

The still, small voice of creative imagination within you will, however.

Feed it by mentally recording all you learn when you experience failure--or success.

In recent years, it was prohibitively costly to buy commercial land in Fort Mohave or Bullhead City, AZ.

The best deals were in terrible locations.

That changed dramatically as our Bullhead City AZ commercial real estate market corrected and building went on life support.

 
However, building has ALREADY picked up in town (new buildings in Bullhead City for Goodwill Industries, Automobile Consulting Services, and  Fort Mohave with Chase Bank, CVS pharmacy and others).

Still, buyers who act decisively can enjoy these tasty treats from the 'salad days' of bargain-priced commercial and residential land for building, leasing or investment in Bullhead City and Fort Mohave, Arizona along the beautiful Colorado River:

 
2701 Highway 95, Bullhead City AZ 86442:

Corner C-2H zoned Highway 95 .32 acre parcel in Bullhead City with a PERFECT location, near law offices, shopping, services, restaurants and WalMart SuperCenter. Level and ready to build--or invest while prices are nice!

Offered at $189,900

 
4100 Highway 95, Fort Mohave AZ 86426:   

VERY affordable Fort Mohave parcel with over 6500 SF to build on, good proximity to the Bullhead Parkway, Target Center and the brand new CVS Pharmacy and a Highway 95 address. Build, lease or invest for later!

Offered at $49,900

 
1632-1638 Shamrock Rd, Bullhead City AZ  86442:

OWNER WILL CARRY on these two contiguous multi family zoned land parcels. 6 units total density,1/3 acre fenced with all utilities including city sewer available. In the heart of Bullhead City, one block off Highway 95, this location is near Hastings Books, Buffalo Wild Wings, Tri State Orthopedic, more medical and shopping and just blocks to the Colorado River, you won't see a better opportunity to build units for rental or resale.

Offered at $70,000

 
1273 Camp Mohave Rd, Fort Mohave AZ 86426:

This is a rare availability for a 2.37 acre Fort Mohave horse property parcel zoned Ag-Res. Awesome location west of Highway 95, near the Avi Casino and a very short distance to the tribally owned land along the Colorado River. High end custom ranch homes will be your neighbors. Site built or manufactured home is OK.

Offered at $189,900

HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?

McCaa's is a motorcycle machine shop and showroom in Fort Mohave, AZ 86426. They've been in town a few years, hailing originally from Southern CA like most of us.

Their 5,000 sq. ft. Fort Mohave facility includes a CNC machine shop, full custom engine building, repair and upgrades for early to late model V-twin motorcycles. 1,000 sq. ft. showroom of apparel and riding accessories. They are open 7 days a week.

McCaa's throws quite the Saturday afternoon party . . . where else in Fort Mohave can you enjoy free live music from local bands like Double Cross, booths with swag, food and refreshment? Each time, the turnout seems a little bigger. It's right in the center of town, neatly tucked away from Highway 95 by a frontage road.

It's pretty fun to take the pooch out walking and hear the band cranking out Lynyrd Skynyrd and Grand Funk as we approach.

With the weather ideal mid-upper 80s, it is the perfect Saturday afternoon, as we meander about to take in the smiling faces (people are fun and friendly down here) and the gorgeous bikes!

If you're heading South on Highway 95 in Fort Mohave, turn Left at Aztec Road where Safeway and Smith's centers are. Take the first quick right down the frontage street past Palace Pawn and AutoZone, to the end. Veer left past Indy Auto and there's McCaa's on the right in one of the two new green buildings.

(Call them first to see when their next jam is)

Stop in sometime--and while you're in the neighborhood, text me to chat real estate ideas. I have some awesome Fort Mohave and Bullhead City commercial properties for sale listed nearby where you could give your business vision a successful form like Mister McCaa did.

Hey, it's walking distance. :)

There are several ways to calculate the market value of properties, of course, and particularly commercial properties.  In any market, but especially the current commercial market it's critical to get that value right if we intend to find a principal!

Investors are most likely to be picking up commercial buildings right now, and their chief interest will be in two things:

• How much positive cash flow is there now?
• How much positive cash flow is realistic?
  
• What is the degree of risk involved?

Valuating using cap rate and an income approach to value will provide good starting points.

For a property that has been vacant longer than 3 months:

Determine market rents for the property. You may need to do a rent survey to find out what tenants are PAYING, because any rate can be asked and many are negotiated down.

This is not an easy step as the parties who have and know this information are often not available or willing to discuss the terms of their lease.

A chat with the leasing office for a large multi-unit property that is mostly occupied (meaning the rents are realistic) could be your next stop.

Then, search for properties listed for lease that are similar if possible. Take note of the ones that have languished on market--they are probably priced too high if they are good properties.

Figure out the likely (proforma) rent for a property that is not currently leased, erring on the side of conservatism.

For properties that have had steady tenants or are occupied now:

Determine the net operating income. Find out from your client what their expenses were when the property was rented, such as management, owner-paid utilities, taxes and insurance. If they don't have that information, find out what management rates are, utilities, taxes have been historically and typically.

Then find out from your client or again by researching active and leased properties what the cap rates are running for similar properties or property types.

If you divide the the annual net operating income by the cap rate, you should get a ballpark figure for value.

Example:

Building with 2000 SF of usable space (usually what rents are based on) has not been rented recently but market rents in the area are a dollar a square foot.

So 2000 a month, or 24,000 a year gross annual income.

Let's say the owner pays 15% a year in management, taxes and insurance on another similar property that is rented--or you find out that that is a fair figure.

Net operating income then is 24,000 minus 15%  or 20,400 NOI.

You find that a reasonable cap rate is 6%. How? Just see what is consistent with similar properties. Cap rate is complicated and not based on the 'whole picture' such as vacancy rate, encumberance etc. But it measures risk and reward which is what we're after.

Divide 20,400 by 6% and we get 340,000--a good estimate of market value.

Of course, many factors must be considered as properties are unique.

It's not an exact science but it's not rocket science either . . .

If you want to go deeper into understanding commercial valuation, this is a good read from a long time commercial appraiser.

I HAD to get away for a bit . . . busy day and poor Luna needed a walkie and some fun. So we went to the 'puppy store' (our local Petsmart) and she had a little tete-a-tete with one of the guinea pigs . . .

Most of the critters are a little squeamish to see this sweet but formidable-looking face staring from the other side of the glass . . . and they usually scare off and hide.

But this little darling wanted to hang out and see what Lulu had to say . . .

I think they swapped cell numbers . . .

Luna can't wait to hand out treats to the trick or treaters who stop by her house . . . she is a TrueBlood fan so her costume is a vampire queen getup, like Queen Sophie-Anne.

She didn't have to pick up a set of fangs. Some things work out like that, you know . . .

It's a gorgeous night along the beautiful Colorado River. High temp was 83 today and the winds have died down to a mellow Fall breeze.

So come on over kiddies of all ages, and pick up a treat!

And a slice of heaven--Bullhead City Arizona 86442 real estate--while you're at it.

But watch your necks . . . you can never be too careful . . .

My client Bill Brownell gave me permission to share these pictures of the progress being made on this now 5 year long Hoover Dam Bypass project. BTW, Bill's got an AWESOME waterfront property in Los Lagos listed. You should buy it!

If you've read my previous posts referring to the Hoover Dam Bypass, you know that northwestern Mohave County will be powerfully impacted by the completion of the Hoover Dam Bypass, a bridge over where Lake Mead meets the Colorado River to Boulder City, Nevada from White Hills, AZ.

Completion is nearing, after some snafus and delays. And lookin' awesome!

Once completed, the Hoover Dam Bypass will benefit Mohave County in many ways:

• Commute times from Kingman AZ to Las Vegas will shorten dramatically
• Inland Port Status may be granted to Kingman
• White Hills, Dolan Springs, Meadview and Golden Valley will become bedroom communities as their proximity to Highway 93 makes their locations along the access corridor desirable
• Property desirability will increase in those areas
  
• Property values will increase in those areas
  

(My opinion. YMMV)

These breathtaking helicopter view photos provide insight into the size of this undertaking and how important it is to have a better way to get from Kingman to Vegas.