Those that know me personally (or follow me on Twitter) know I enjoy playing poker for fun and relaxation (and occasionally for small profit! ).

Last night at my weekly Hold ‘em tournament, the game took an interesting twist.

I was outside the playing venue (a restaurant and bar in Mesa) chatting with a couple of nice folks between rounds.

A young punk and his buddy approached, and they practically had “TROUBLE” tattooed across their foreheads.

Punk#1 immediately launched into his routine, in a lame attempt to pick up a young lady. She very politely dismissed his advances and he mouthed off something about her “disrespecting” him.

She turned away from him to resume our conversation.

What followed blew me away.

Punk #1 took a swing — with a closed fist — and directly connected with the young lady’s face. She dropped like a rock, and this asshole jumps on top of her, swinging away.

It took a nano-second for me and the other guy there to jump in and drag him off of her. At that point Punk #2, exhibiting more true manliness and character, shoved me from behind, sending me crashing into the pavement. Dazed (back of skull into pavement will do that), I struggled to my feet.

Apparently the young lady ran back inside, looking for help. Help arrived in the form of a couple more guys, but by the time they got outside, the young punks were running away — supplying further evidence of their cowardice. A short chase ensued, but when the punks bolted into Gilbert Road traffic, they got away.

The cops came, we all gave our reports and I went home. Once there, as I watched my elbow swell to baseball-sized proportions, I realized that something was structurally amiss with my arm. So off to the ER I went. Several hours and several hundreds of dollars later, the verdict was a nasty contusion, a sprained elbow and a suspected scaphoid fracture (think where the thumb bone connects to the wrist bone). Fortunately, I have a hard head (literally and figuratively) — no damage there (my teenagers would likely disagree).

I don’t write this post for sympathy, I’ll be fine. I write it because I find the whole ordeal disturbing. What could possibly compel a young “man” in his early 20’s to physically assault a female, and a complete stranger at that? The dude has issues, major issues (and I’m betting a drug problem). These guys were looking for a fight. And when they started one, they ran off like little chickenshits. It’s rather sad that there are people out there so out-of-control that they’d coldcock anyone, much less a woman (not meaning to sound sexist here, but that is just plain wrong). These guys define “dregs of society”. What is wrong with these people?

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Back in January I wrote, On Buyers Suing Agents — an article about California home buyers Marty and Vernon Ummel suing their real state agent Michael Little and his RE/Max brokerage. The Ummels claim Little “defrauded them when he failed to inform them that similar houses on the same block were selling for more than $100,000 less than what the Ummels had paid”.

Today the San Diego Union Tribune reports that jury selection in the trial begins tomorrow – which coincidentally happens to be April Fool’s Day…

While it appears that most “legal experts” don’t think this case has much merit, it will be interesting to follow. We’ll bring you whatever we can dig up.

More info:

The original New York Times coverage.

Here are the Ummels in a Today show segment:

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Full disclosure: This is not a paid review. The publisher did provide a complimentary copy of the book, but with no obligation to review — good, bad or otherwise..

Retire Rich from Real Estate: A Low-Risk Approach to Buying Rental Property for the Long-Term Investor. (Amazon non-affiliate link)

That’s a mouthful of a title, and covers a lot of territory.

And the author, Marc W. Andersen, Ph.D. does an admirable job covering that territory.
Retire Rich is well-written, and loaded with knowledge and tips, particularly for newer real estate investors.

Thankfully, Andersen does not propose any “get-rich-quick”, no money down, “anyone can do it” type of advice. His “formula” is a long-term investment return, not quick flipping.

And that’s sage advice in my opinion.

The book is well indexed, and has a great glossary — that alone is worth the price of admission.

Andersen writes in an easy to understand voice, and covers a lot of ground including (but not limited to):

• To buy or not to buy
• Identifying potential long-term investment properties
• Finding properties
• Determining operating expenses and cash flow
• Valuing and financing investment properties
• Property management
• Insurance and taxes
• Bookkeeping
• Selling the property

As a long-time buyer and seller of investment property, Andersen appears to be in a good position to offer advice, and includes many actual examples from his real estate investments. He’s got the right attitude toward real estate investing…

From the Introduction:

Creating wealth from real estate is a long-term proposition and the road is long and treacherous. It is not realistic to think you can make your fortune overnight.Once you make the right purchase you must learn how to hold on to and effectively manage your property.

The book has been reviewed on several real estate investing blogs and every review I’ve seen has been positive.

My only beef with the book is the author’s opinion that most listing agents are out to double-side transactions. As an agent who abhors dual agency, I find that annoying. However, the sad fact is Andersen isn’t just saying this on a whim — he undoubtedly has experience in seeing this practice first-hand.  

Well-written and reading more like a handbook to long-term real estate investing success than a gimmicky approach, Retire Rich from Real Estate would be a great book for anyone involved in the real estate market to add to their library.

Retire Rich from Real Estate: A Low-Risk Approach to Buying Rental Property for the Long-Term Investor
Marc W. Andersen, Ph.D.
Published: December 2007
ISBN: 978–1–57248–646–1
$18.95 U.S. / $24.95 CAN 
($11.03 on Amazon) 

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Trying a slightly different take (for us) on the single-listing web site.

Call it more a single-listing blog.

AvianoListing.com

Still needs some work, but I like the Neoclassical Wordpress theme from the ever-brilliant Chris Pearson. The random rotating header graphics are cool, and I find the minimalist layout and typography appealing.

It’s also my first venture into Wordpress v2.5.

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I thought this idea was clever: 

And I thought this sucked (extra credit to anyone that can sit through the entire 8.5 minutes):

We’ve frequently toyed with the idea of video listings. I’m sure they are in our future, I just don’t know in what form (clearly video #2 is out).

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