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When I was a Product Manager I had the opportunity to make some great training called Pragmatic Marketing. One of the key principles of Pragmatic Marketing is something that they call NIHITO. NIHITO stands for Nothing Important Happens In The Office. What this means is that if you are going to be a true expert in understanding a particular market and a particular customer set, you are going to need to get out of your office and actually go out and talk to people and see what is going on out in the field. I believe this concept is especially important for note investing. While I can gather a lot of data online and talk to people on the phone, I wanted to be become more familiar with some of the markets that I have been focused on.

Before I left I hit up a number of asset managers and requested properties in IN and OH, and also put together a list of the assets I already own in those areas so I could check up on them. I was able to cover a lot of ground on this trip:

I flew into Indianapolis and started by dropping in on a note meetup. It was great to meet some of the local investors and I was able to pick up a lot of information on the city, such as which areas are good, which areas have problems, and which areas used to be bad but are changing for the better. I was also able to trade some business cards and make some good contacts.

Then I went up to Muncie, IN where I had an asset scheduled for foreclosure auction. I was pretty sure the borrower would file for bankruptcy prior to the auction and delay it, but fortunately that didn’t happen. I was able to sit in on the auction and observe the process myself. There were about 40 properties up for sale and about 30 bidders in the room. In the hour prior to the auction starting the room had the feel of a dog track or a sports book, with everyone studying the screen and putting together all of their last minute analysis. In the end only 5 properties received bids and there were only 2 properties that had multiple bids. There was a lot of build up for not a lot of action in the end. My property didn’t sell, so I now have a REO to take care of and then to market.

From there I moved on to Cincinnati where I already have 3 notes and scoped out some other assets that are for sale. I was also able to meet up with Tony Sottile who bought me lunch, and meet a lot of the people in the Sottile and Barile office face to face that I previously only knew through email.

Then I went on to Dayton, up to Lima, out to Norwalk, across to Toledo, over to Fort Wayne, and then finally down through some smaller towns and back to Indianapolis. Overall I looked at about 35-40 properties, and was able to take a lot of pictures and a lot of notes on the towns and specific neighborhoods in the big cities. I saw areas that were good, bad, and ugly. In the midst of all the running around I was able to fund 4 new note purchases. I also managed to get a little golf in along the way. So it was a very productive trip.

This week I’ll focus on getting bids in on some of the good assets I found. Hopefully the next wave of asset purchases will be coming soon.