Sometimes we all need a little bit of motivation. Football players watch Rudy, runners listen to the theme music from Chariots of Fire, and artists stroll the halls of the Louvre to draw inspiration from the masters. Whatever your occupation or field of interest, it's important to stay motivated. The right motivation can keep us from becoming stagnant, which is vital, for stagnation leads to mediocrity.

There's a reason that smoking bans have been so hotly debated, and it's clear to see if one frames the debate in a way that eliminates the smoking preference of either side. For instance:

Do you agree that people have a right to reasonable protection from the unhealthy choices of others?

Do you agree that people have a right to be free from unreasonable intrusion into their personal lives?

If you're trying to sell a property, it's a no-brainer that you want it to look good. It's a given that the property should be clean and well kept. But making a property attractive to potential buyers goes beyond that: You want them to see how it can look--what the potential of the space is. Selling real estate is all about helping a potential buyer see a property in its' best light and you want them to remember it when they see other potential properties to buy.  This is where professional home staging comes in. A home stager's job is to draw attention to the things about a property that make it special and to show it in the best possible light.

Father's Day is upon us, so it seems appropriate to reflect on a few of those fatherly axioms that dads drill into their kids -- er, I mean, "gently instill in their children." There's a reason this kind of advice from fathers gets handed down from generation to generation: It's really good advice. And the thing about really good advice is that it can often be applied across many areas of your life. Such is the case with the words of wisdom I'm going to share with you today -- they can easily be applied to your real estate investing career.

In an ideal world, posts concerning ethics would not be necessary. In such a world, everyone would operate by the Golden Rule, treating everyone else the way they wish to be treated. Unfortunately, that doesn't always happen, and people sometimes fail to act ethically. And here's the thing: Not all people who behave unethically are moustache-twirling villains. Sometimes unethical behavior happens when people get too focused on the bottom line or get a little (or a lot) sloppy, forgetting that at the end of the day, real estate investors are in the people business.  

To be a successful real estate investor, one must wear many hats. You need to be an effective marketer, a skilled negotiator, a shrewd businessperson, and a wiz at customer (read: tenant) service. But here's something you may not know: you're not getting anywhere near the bang for your buck with these skill sets if you don't wear one other hat. "And which hat is that?" you ask?