Del's triumphant return

Long time no see friends!  I just got back the National Apartment Association’s annual conference and as always I am just lit up with excitement.  Saw and learned tons of things while I was there and even got to talk to people!  I taught a class while I was there and meet lots of people like I always do.  I am telling you that if you want to be in the apartment industry, you really need to go to the trade shows because it really is interesting to see how everything works. 

First off you have the local apartment association showing up and these associations always vary from place to place.  For example, Houston has the one association and Dallas has two local associations.  Once you become a member of your local association you get membership for the state association and get access to all associations and their territories in your specific state.  That means we here at Lifestyles are dealing with all five apartment associations in Texas.  From there the state associations ‘roll up” into the national association.  So basically, upon joining one association, you are really joining up with ALL of the associations in the country, which is really powerful.

I’ve always said that the apartment game is a team sport and that I believe in the mentor system.  We here at Lifestyles mentor from people from the beginning levels all the way to up to buying 3000+ units.  The great thing is that we are still growing.  Our lead investors are always moving forwards and looking for the next step up in the game. The best part is that when they do find a new avenue to travel they don’t keep it to themselves, they share their new knowledge with all the members.  So it’s an easy thing to say that we have a lot here at Lifestyles.

But when I go to something like the National Apartment Association it is always like starting over from the beginning again.  I go and get to meet people who own HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of units instead of just hundreds or thousands.  It is interesting to see that the people that are working in these companies are excited about the apartment industry and they really enjoy working for the industry but they themselves do not own real estate. 

So what is happening now is that we, as a group in the national apartment association, are growing together.  Some of these elder statesmen are giving me ideas and mentoring me on how to bring ideas down to the beginner level and I am bringing ideas to them about how to double their income and build their retirement accounts.  It is an incredible opportunity and I am just so excited that I am going to be able to share these ideas and concepts with you that I learned over the coming days. 
It is great to be back in town everyone but get ready!  Class is still in session, the teacher has returned and his lesson plan has been repacked with new information.  Get your pencils and paper out because class is going to be starting soon!