Brad's story: failure is not an option
Like most young adults, Brad Geisen — then future President and CEO of Foreclosure.com — believed that college was the natural next step after high school graduation.
For Brad, that plan didn't quite work out in the "traditional" sense.
Upon receiving his diploma, Brad attended a local junior college and worked as a church janitor to help support his mother and two young sisters. During this time, he also put away what he could for the eventual
transition to a major university.
That day finally arrived when Brad enrolled at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina. Unfortunately, the costs were a little more than he expected — Brad saved just enough for tuition, room and board.
Eating was a whole different ballgame.
When it came time to purchase the meal ticket, which is what you needed to get in the cafeteria to eat, the school offered a choice between five and seven-day passes. For the most part, the former was for
students who went home on the weekends, and the latter was for students who lived on campus.
Brad barely had enough to cover the five-day meal plan. Accordingly, he endured the entire semester not eating from Friday night at 8:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. Monday morning when the cafeteria opened.
"I was always the first one at the cafeteria on Monday morning," says Brad. "It was a horrible situation, but I was able to learn from it. I remember telling myself that I would never be poor and I was
going to do everything in my power to become successful."
Believe it or not, Brad points to this specific life lesson as the one that helped him most develop the mindset necessary to succeed in the foreclosure market.
"It's not uncommon in the real estate market — foreclosures in particular — to find yourself in stressful and often times 'no-win' situations," says Brad. "But with the right hunger, passion and dedication
to work through the difficult times the end result usually does pay off ... literally. I'm living proof of that, and my college experience taught me that valuable lesson very early on."
At Clemson, Brad excelled in class, finishing his first semester with a 4.0 grade point average — not bad for a kid who coasted through high school as a "C" student at best. He was determined not to fail.
However, he was out of money and he needed some assistance to continue his studies. Brad made an appointment with the financial aid office to discuss his options. He filled out a stack of papers and had to wait
until the director reviewed them.
One week later, Brad was summoned back to that same office to meet face-to-face with the director about his application. She explained that he did not qualify for financial aid, giving several reasons, all of
which made no logical sense.
"I was told 'good grades are a dime a dozen,'" Brad recalls.
Without the assistance, Brad would be unable to return and his dreams of success, in just a few short minutes, were seemingly dashed. The gravity of the situation was apparently lost on the financial aid
director, who tried to console Brad by saying, "College is not for everyone, sweetie."
With that, Brad collected himself, stood up, pointed his finger at her and said, "I will be back in five years and I am going to buy this school and fire you!"
"I was angry at first, real angry," says Brad. "But then I realized shortly thereafter that I couldn't let this woman — or anyone for that matter — control my fate. I had to take things into my own hands
and be the one who makes the important decisions. I couldn't rely on anyone else."
Of course, Brad never went on to purchase Clemson University. However, the experience served as motivation to prove his worth throughout his professional career. In fact, it was the pinnacle moment in his
life that he never forgot ... nor will he ever.
As soon as Brad walked out of the financial aid office, he crammed his meager belongings into a beat-up white Ford Fairmont and headed home. During the trip, he purchased Forbes magazine at a rest stop along
the way with a cover story that read, "500 Wealthiest People."
Brad wasn't even half-way home, and he had already found new material to study.
"I wanted to be on that list," says Brad. "So for the next few days I poured over the various biographies and professions, searching for something for which I could pattern a successful career after."
Brad was quickly able to read between the lines. Not only was it interesting, but the revelation changed his life forever. There was a common thread throughout wealth descriptions:
"Oil industry and real estate"
"Banker and real estate"
"Manufacturer and real estate"
And so the list went on. In fact, the entire list — all 500 with no exceptions —
said " ... and real estate."
"It was like a sign from above," says Brad. "It was so obvious that real estate was the key to success. And I knew at that very moment if I wanted to be wealthy I needed to get into the real estate business."
That same week Brad, just a few days removed from his first semester at Clemson University, created a company called, "Investment Plus" and enrolled in real estate school to become a licensed agent in the
state of Florida.
Unfortunately, at that point in time the real estate market in South Florida, as well as the economy overall, was in bad shape. And everyone Brad told about his vision and new career path had something
negative to say, from the interest rates are too high to the market is depressed.
Essentially, people warned that houses were not selling and everything was going into foreclosure.
Brad's response?
"I said I guess I will sell foreclosures then," says Brad.
And that is exactly what he did.
The only problem (and a big one at that) was Brad knew nothing about the foreclosure business. But, he'd more or less painted himself into a corner and he had no other choice but to learn it ... fast.
"I made the decision and I could not back out," says Brad. "I couldn't face my friends and family if I failed. I just put more pressure on myself to succeed."
Brad quickly learned everything he could about real estate, foreclosures and sales. In the process, he noticed a seriously high demand for foreclosures. Therefore, he decided to turn the company he
established, Investment Plus, into a foreclosure niche business.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Investment Plus quickly became famous in the local real estate world for publishing one of the first "foreclosures lists," which Brad manually updated each week. Investors would come from all over
the state to receive the latest edition.
In fact, eager investors began to wait outside Investment Plus, sometimes all morning, to get the jump on good deals.
Building on this success, Brad began to buy and sell properties himself. He had to take a big risk, however, putting his first down payment on a house with his personal credit card.
"I rolled the dice, it was sink or swim at that point," says Brad. "It was a calculated risk that I needed to take. I felt it was the only way for me to get ahead ... and I was right."
The investment worked out. Brad was able to resell the home, make a profit, and use that as his next down payment. He did this for the next few years, accumulating more wealth with each home that he purchased,
flipped and sold.
Since then, Brad has purchased more than 5,000 properties. From vacant land, residential homes, shopping centers, office buildings, warehouse facilities and marinas, acquiring real estate is now second
nature for Brad and runs parallel with his other businesses.
In fact, Investment Plus was awarded a government contract from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 1990 in an unprecedented new concept of privatization. Brad was awarded several
government contracts to manage and market government foreclosures.
It was a huge success: His efforts helped lead the way for HUD and The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) to create a program that is still in use today. To date, Brad is responsible for marketing and
successfully selling more than $3 billion in real estate assets, and currently disposing of $60,000,000 million in real estate monthly.
During this time, Brad also owned and operated several large real estate companies, as well as two mortgage companies. Then, finally, he made the decision to put his popular foreclosure lists on the
Internet in 1999.
And with that, Foreclosure.com was born.
Even with all of this success, Brad continues to keep the gas pedal pegged to the floor. He is affiliated with a title company and recently became involved in starting a national law firm. In addition,
he is an investor in a new bank start-up.
"I've got so many things going on and it's all stemmed from deciding to purchase foreclosure real estate," says Brad. "It almost didn't happen. But I learned as much as I could, took calculated risks and always
kept a positive mindset despite some rocky moments."
"The right attitude, not deep pockets, is the most important aspect of foreclosure investing," continues Brad. "It's invaluable."
Brad was able to figure this out before most because he had no other option. He made the most out of an opportunity in his life at a time when all of his hopes and dreams were taken away.
He had to start over and learn something totally new. Something that he believed would eventually bring him financial success.
Over the past 20 years, Brad has gone on to help many friends and clients through this process and watched them grow and mature in a very similar fashion. The one underlying characteristic was determination.
"It's not easy, especially in the beginning," says Brad. "If it was, everyone would be doing it. "Perseverance, drive and a willingness to learn are the three most important traits to have in this business.
And those are all adjustments future investors can easily make."
Brad made those same adjustments. And he hasn't looked back since.
 top
|
Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity