Toll Positions

Would it be correct to say owning houses, strip malls, shopping centers, apartment buildings, warehouses, etc. and then leasing them out is an example of a toll position?

[GordonJ]

YES, Real Estate is a great TOLL Position. I mentioned in a post about a company that pays 6 to 7 grand a month to lease a building...it is a manufacturing business. Over the course of time the lanlord collects huge sums of money.

One little coincidence, there is an article in today's Akron Beacon Journal about a local foundation that just gave away 160,000 to local charities...and this foundation also happens to be the OWNER of the property I was referring to. How sweet that must be to have your foundation funded by real estate toll positions?

Real Estate is fantastic, look at Trump. But it has or could have a much bigger downside to it too.

OK, consider this: You own the building my friend leases from you...and he pays you 6 grand a month...or 72,000 a year. You still have to have insurance, keep it safe, in good working order, etc.

Now consider you own a Plant Patent. And you have 5 licenses. Each licensee pays you 25,000 a year for the license. You collect 125,000 a year...and what have you done? SEE?

Now only 7 states are being crushed by Real Estate right now...but consider S. FL where the speculators went hog wild. Now they are hurting. Properties that were being sold pre construction are in some cases even to get the original investment back.

OR, walk a mile up the street here in C. Falls, and see the vacant strip plaza that the city wants to declare a "blight" area. The landlord seems unwilling to work with anyone...one has to figure there is a huge TAX incentive or benefit to his corporation somewhere because he owns about 3 of these 1/2 empy strip malls in the area.

Some of the downside to consider leasing corporate real estate, is the tenant...you think you've got a great one, say, a Montgomery Wards?

Real estate, land, oil leases, rights of way, mineral and water rights are all toll booth positions along with patents, trademarks, copyrights, chemical formulae, molds, processes, trade secrets, tools and dies, proprietary formulas, distribution channels, sources, etc.

All of these COULD be great toll postions...what I'm looking at are the Toll Gate positions that have the least "slop and mess" to them...the highest potential returns for the least amount of bog down...

Some people love owning 20 houses. One fellow who visits here has (or had) at least that many rental properties. Good business.

So you want to keep an open mind when thinking of TOLL postions...what I want to look for are those tolls that I can acquire with no out of pocket money, no loans or fix up specials...that can be turned immediately into cash flow with nothing more than a signature on an agreement. These are, for me, the kinds of toll booth positions I want.

Like Real Estate? Go for it.

Gordon Jay Alexander

Gordon,

Thanks for mentioning factories.

Killarney, this is for you too.

True Story: Guy owns a Huge Shed - of course, that it is on land in an industrial estate makes it a Warehouse or Factory, right. He's raking in money from his Successful Tenant. Life is good.

One day, the tenant decides that paying out all this money is Wasteful and so buys some Industrial Land just up the road and commissions its own Shed to be built. Construction is going ahead nicely and the tenant is set to Move Out in one month.

Suddenly, during the weekend, the new un-tenanted building catches fire and burns down to the ground. So the tenant has to stay put for at least another 12 months while the building is rebuilt.

Did the landlord do it, to prevent the tenant from moving and thus him losing his golden goose? Well, that's what everyone thinks - the tenant, the police, those in the industry who know of it - but without Hard Proof it was the landlord...

Some of the commercial properties can be cash cows. Specially those leased by the Govt for 20 years. But then what? Govt departments Do Move - I've been involved in the demolition of two things the Govt was involved in. One, they were moving Out and the other they were moving In and the old internal stuff needed to be demolished. But what if the Govt dept isn't moving in?

It's often standard practice to Provide "Free Fitout" to encourage commercial clients to lease your floor space. Better hope they stay in business long enough for you to recoup your fitout costs.

Residential RE, on the other hand, I feel is more stable and can be a good thing - if done right. I have a Hotsheet about it available at http://www.hotsheetcity.com and posted my Selection Guidelines in a post here http://www.sowpub.com/forum/showthre...te#post1 6133 and here http://www.sowpub.com/forum/showthre...te#post1 6184

Toll Position Story: Guy is visiting Germany or Austria. Notices a certain Fuel Additive Product is selling well. Asks them about sales to Other Countries and they aren't interested in doing it themselves. Asks them if he can buy the World Rights - outside of the country - for $100,000. They say yes and the deal is... $1,000 down and 6 months to pay the remaining $99,000.

Guy travels back home and has a Lawyer create Contracts for Individual Country Rights. Guy then sells 80 such rights for $25,000 each PLUS 5 cents per unit of Additive Sold. Bringing in a cool two million smackeroos up front and then 5 cents per unit residual money thereafter. The POWER of a Toll Position outside of RE.

Michael Ross

Michael,

That is a great story about the fuel additive product. I guess the sky is the limit with these toll position ideas.

You're only limited by your creativity and imagination.

The topic of toll positions has got me thinking!!!