Shane's Fight for the FIRST......!!!

Ok ladies and gentleman I have officially put out 43 offers as of Saturday. My agent confirmed this with me last night.

I have an end buyer who is looking for a home so I also included this agent on this project with me also. I am using the Matt Larson strategy and including my agent on pretty much all of my dealings weather I need her or not. I know this will only make relations between the two of stronger, and will increase the effort she is willing to put forth on behalf or our success.

The project I am tackling, in an effort to build my sellers list, this week is to go after expired listings by mailing out letters to the addresses my agent sends me from the MLS.

Pretty much at this point of time I am focused on building my sellers list because I have hungry buyers who need to be fed good deals. That means I have to do what I have to do find great deals! OH yeah congrats on all of the people that were still working on achieving their REI goals despite the fact it was the holidays. For some people this thing becomes are apart of your blood. So with your every breathing moment it just propels you closer to success.

Until we speak againg!!!
Shane

First of all HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!!

-Well its been 2 days since Ive posted my journal entry and I have must admit Im so sorry to the REI Gods who make this possible for me. This journal, which was started by "Rina" if I may, is like therapy. It gives me a chance to actually measure my journey to my final destination of repsect, financial freedom, and enjoyment of life.

-Day 1 of no Entry
I did not enter my journal this night casue my former business partner's DAD died adn went to his house to pay respects.

-Day 2 of no Entry
My boss of my tow truck job is gone. We have two tow trucks and Im driving both of them and handling a load for two men. Yesterday I was so busy your would not believe it. When I finally got home and the first thing I talked to my wife about was REI she was shocked how I had the ability to deal with REI with the days I've been having. For me it comes down to just doing what you got to do.

Aight so for the last 2 days alot has happened in a definate steady and consistant progressison. I have my 1-800# voice mail set up and Im advertising on Backpage.com and craigslist.com I ve got 2 end buyers who left a message on my voice mail and 2 sellers who left me a messages. With the information that Dean provides me I am fully equipped to handle the correspondance with my potential clients. But I have one of the best relations with my REA that an Investor could want and need. The beautiful is that I met her right here on DG.com All of that to say I have worked out a scenario where my agent handles all of the initial correspondance with my buyers and sellers from my 1800#. As an agent thats what she does for a living so I think she is more comfortable in this position than me. It also gives us the opportunity to paint my company into a larger light. There will be a time when I do deal with my clients, but its the fact that there is a process or a chain of command, if your will, that leads them to me. I must admit that the system is working according to plan on my way out of '09 into '10 its a great feeling. I know the people on my power team believe in me and the power of us working together. WE all want it and willing to do what it takes to get it.

Ok Im just talking too much here.

-The short sale that Im working on with the other investor is moving. I did not hear from her in like 2-3 days and thats unusual. As life has it she was a little under the radar due to.......(none of my business) I sent her a motivating and soothing email basically letting her know that I got her back cause even when I was a pure newbie she kinda of grab me by my little wings and guided me in her own way. One hand wash the other. All that to say the next day she called me to say we have a appointment this Sunday to gather the final info on the short sale package that we have been working on. Its been nice cause I brought the client's situation to the table and this investor Im working has been on top of everything. She stays in touch with the client and hs established a comfortable relations between all parties.

-Next week I go to visit a property with my agent. One of the 43 offers we put out last week, the recieving agent said we have to view the property before he submits our offer. Thats not how I ideally like to do it but if that makes him happy so be it. It gives me a chance to warm up to viewing properties. My agent understands what time it is so we will go in and put on our show. It should be fun!!

I will do my best to add my entries daily because trust me I am leaving something juicy out of my REI life. Well let me go chill with the wifey its New Years and you know the rest..................!!

Best Regards,
Shane Gore

Shane,
I just found your journal for the first time.
I am a coffeeaholic. I can't live without it. Drink it all day long sometimes. Anyway, I was checking on a few other threads when I found yours, at the time I needed to go to the bathroom and my coffee cup is empty and needs to be refilled. I starteed reading your journal and couldn't stop! I have read through your entire journal(all 3 pages) without stopping. It grabbed me and I couldn't stop for anything. I am telling you all this so you will know how great it is. Thank you for sharing. All your work being shared in your journal with us is very inspirational and inspiring.
You know you will win that fight! You are doing so awesome that I bet your first deal is going to end up being 3 or 4 deals at once.
I have bookmarked your journal and look foward to keeping up with it.
"Keep on truckin'" and you will be able to quit that trucking job soon and focus on your REI career of helping people!!!

Simply awesome!

Scott

Wow Scott,

I dont know what to say to such a nice remarks you have made about me. I mean I really have to wonder if you are talking about me man!! LOL The beautiful thing about it all is that if I rock, then you rock too because we are in the same boat, even better you have a fish in your hand to prove it. LOL I think with anything in life it comes down to how bad you want it. As a kid I had a pretty good upbringing. My parents did well for me, (nice house, extra-curriculars, etc.) I say all this to say that when I look in my daughters eyes I know I have to give her more than what I had coming up so I got my work cut out for me. I also am stubborn and hard headed sometimes so working for some one else has never been my thing. So right now getting in that tow truck everyday is killing me. Most of all I know I deserve the finer things of life its just up to me and all of us to go out there and get it.

I look to be reading great things about you too Scott. Besides if you are doing well in your neck of the woods, we can do business together and hell you could even teach me how to catch a big fish like the one you got on that pic.

Best Regards,
Shane Gore

Shane,
I am very determined, as I know you are.
I caught Dean's show one night(mid Nov). It got my attention and was very interesting, but I did nothing besides watch and think about it. Then about 2 weeks later I was lucky enough to stumble onto Dean's show again one night. I was scared and worried about "this" being another scam of some sort, but I decided I wanted to learn more. So I went to the bookstore to just look through BARM. They didn't have it. Approximately a week after that I was traveling to Az. I had a really early flight, so I drove to Dallas(from Waco)the night before. I got there early enough to go by a bigger bookstore to just "look". You know one of those bigger bookstores with the coffee shop in the store. They had one copy of Barm. So I got me a cup of coffee(Mmmhmmm coffee) and kicked back on one of those really comfortable chairs they have and started reading. Well one thing lead to another and I finished the book the next day somewhere about 30k' over New Mexico, might of been over Az. I explain in my profile's 'about me' why the book really got me.
Anyway I didnt visit the site for about another week or so. Once I did I have been here onsite daily. reading and learning. I figured out that you either do it 110% or not at all. I made the decision that I WILL do this. I WILL be an REI. There isnt a question of trying this out or giving it a chance to see if it works. The only queston is when. When will I be able to say I am a REI with confidence. I already know how, "One step at a time".
I luv how you are also determined. I know your 'WHY" now. The look in your daughter's eyes, and her future. I see that you don't want to be successful you HAVE to be. You and I don't have a choice anymore. We simply WILL. I luv how when you hit these obstacles how they dont seem to bother you that much you just keep on keeping on. That is so unbelievably motivating for me. I just want to yell and scream and growl. Hear my ROAR! Nobody, nothing can stop me. Naysayers beware! They dont even bother me in fact they don't effect me at all, besides reminding me of my resolve. I would suggest they either join me or get out of the way because I will run right though them and over them. Not under or around through or over. They will be roadkill. Which again makes me smile(not in a evil sadistic way) but because they are motivating me with thier negativity(Thank you Naysayers!).
It doesnt matter how hard or how long it takes you and I, we ARE success stories already because we made that decision. The only question is when.
I'll make you a deal. Maybe this will give us one more thing to shoot for. When we get there(both of us are full time REIs) and can afford it I will visit you(do they have fish that far north...smirk) and you can also visit me. I will show/teach you about surf fishing, and we will catch some fish you can brag about. So far my best bragging fish is a 6'3" hammerhead shark caught on the same pier that picture in my profile was taken on. Pm me your email and I will send you a picture if you want.

Check on me in my journal once in a while and I will do the same. Let's help each other get there. Keep on keeping on and thank you for you!

Scott

You got my attitude down to the tea Scott. Thats exactly the way I feel about obstacle that try to get in the way. And if there were no obstacle then we would be definately doing something wrong. Cause anything worth having you have to pay some type of price. Well we want the freedom and the finer things of life so lets just go ahead and do what we got to do to get there. Aight Scott you got a deal and I will be checking you out!

Best Regards,
Shane

Today was a pretty calm and relaxing day for me. Thankfully I did not have to work but I still washed the truck I drive because there is no feeling like riding around the city in a spic and span clean vehicle. Everyone is always thrown off because you do not expect to see a clean tow truck we usually get a different type of stereo-type, even though I am not the average tow truck driver by far.

-As far as REI my agent was supposed to call two of my clients today. I did not talk to her today. If I dont here from her tonight I will definately hear form her tomorrow. I got a couple of homes to view in the next couple of days. I will basically do some marketing like pass out fliers and relist my online ads. I also need another list of expireds from my agent. I will continue to call rental ads from the newspaper. For me its all about staying busy cause something will give if I just keep up the fight.

-For New Years I sent out a warm greeting to all of the people I do business with in New York. (Investors, agents, lawyer,mortgage broker, etc.) New Years gave me a reason to just basically remind them about me and let them know that I am still geared towards bringing in a prosperous New Years with the relations I have built with them. I must say I think it was effective from the responses I recieved and it was a simple but meaningful text.

-Other than that I will enjoy the first day of the new year with my beautiful wife and daughter and sit back and watch a little TV. Tomorrow brings on another day into the grind and the Fight for the First!!

Best Regards,
Shane Gore

Cant you believe it guys its already the 3rd of the month. Right now there are alot of people around speaking of the greatness of 2010 and how they mean business this year. Well I meant business last year and to me the new year is simply a "new year." Lets just keep on with the task at hands.

I know guys its been about 2 days since I made an entry. Well here it goes.....

-Saturday my agent called the two clients I had waiting from my 1-800#. One of the ladies is selling a house in Yonker, NY for $500K and she owes about $465K Me and my agent laughed because I explained to her that, "I did not learn how to tell someone I could not help them." And this situation seems like there is nothing I can do for her. If she were missing payments I would try to orchestrate a short sale package on her behalf to the bank but she is making her payments and just wants to move out of state. Considering the FMV of the area and what she owes this is not going to fit my criteria so my agent basically told me we should let her off nicely and move on to the next one. I respect the advice that she gives me, because with our goals and focusness being on the same track, we seem to be naturally moving with a unified front. Its a great feeling because I dont have to pull teeth and nails to get her to act. The other potential client she called was looking to buy a house from one of my ghost ads nut said she would call us back.

-On Saturday I also called rental ads from the local newpaper. One lady I talked to said she was not trying to sale her house but said she had 5 other homes and things were not working out how she planned and would probably looking to sell. She asked me to give her a call in about a week. Of course I will have my agent call and gather the necessary infomation I need. Like I explained earlier this will give my business a more professional front when more than one person can call the potential client and my agent is a professional at what she does.

-Today (Sunday) I met with the investor that I am working on the Short Sale with. We met at the subject property to take pics of the damged areas of the house to submit to the bank with the package. Everything is pretty much a go we just have to get some final paper works from the owner like 2 months of her bank statement and I think its 2 years of her tax return. She has been working with us so that should not be a problem. The investor has been doing her part. She has been handling pretty much all of the correspondance with the owner and all I had to do was show up today. She probably does not know it but being around her I am learning alot. For example the things to look for as we were viewing the house today.

-I am working with another agent that I met on this site, and he did say things would be slow to start off the New Year, but I did send him a email just to remind him that I need some properties and I would like to make a certain amount of offers per week. I really would like to have more than one agent who I can really rely on to cut the mustard. Especially in a place like NYC were there is so much competition out here.

-Tonight I also picked 4 more properties from a list of 23 expired listing my agent sent me. I plan to mail letters out to these owners tomorrow.

-When I get finish my journal entry I will print our my budget for this current stage in my life and put it the wall in my office. I feel I have lost track of the direction my money is moving and I want to regain conciousness of it.

Well guys thats about it for today. The fantastic ride of REI awaits me tomorrow. Good Night

Best Regards,
Shane Gore

Hello to my DG Family. Today was a pretty good day. I must say it was a shocker. I should not be but it was. Here is how it went.

-To start the day off it was pretty interesting becuase I had the priviledge of having my wife and daughter ride with me in the truck all day. And would you know we were going non stop today. It was a pretty busy day. If you remember I am holding down the business right now. So for the first half of the day I used the small truck. I like this truck for the fact that it is fast on the highway and you do not have to get out to operate it. IF you know anything about NY winters this comes in handy. The second half of the day I used the big truck called a flat bed which I normally drive. Would you know it I caught a flat tire and while I was parked on the side of the Atlantic Ave getting the tire fixed some maniac ran in the back of the truck. He caused serious damage to his vehicle, but before I could get out to see what was going on, this idiot pulled off. What can I say NYCity!!! I got his plate #, the police came, made a report, blah, blah blah. The most important thing was that my family was OK. My daughter slept through the whole thing.

-Well today I was so busy in the real estate world I felt I did not get a chance to get much accomnplish. But this is how that went..........

-The investor that I am working on the short sale with called me to tell me that the agent that she selected has not been able to produce the HUD-1. We will give ourselves a week to see if we can produce this ourselves if not then I have already given my agent the heads up that I might need her assistance. Of course she has no problem with this.

-AS I drove around in the truck today, I got my wife to read me off numbers out of the newspaper of people renting properties. I called the numbers and talked with the home owners and when I was finished she would read off the next number. I had to do it this way because as I mentioned earlier, today I was going non-stop with the towing. Turned out pretty successful. Out of the 15 or so people I called, 1 lady said she had a home she was interested in selling. She is a real estate agent but it turns out that this home is her own home. She even says she has a property in Georgia she would sell me, but I told her I focus more in NY. (Anybody need a property in GA let me know. lol) She was with a client but said she would call me back. She never did but tomorrow I will have my agent give her a call.

-Just as the day was coming to an end at about 6:45pm I got a call on my personal cell phone but at the time I was dealing with the police concerning the hit and run so I kinda of paid it no mind. Later as I was riding to park up the truck, I was thinking and even getting a little down saying how slow things feel like they might be getting and just generally thinking of things I needed to do to improve performance. I checked my cell phone to see if I had any emails and I saw I had the voice mail from the earlier call I missed. I was a guy who simply asked me to give him a call back because he was interested in the offer I made him regarding buying his house(I told him all cash in 14-30 days). Ladies and Gentlemen this was a guy I called from the rental ads the day before and he did not even pick up, so I left a message on his voice mail and he called back. Boy what a pick me up that was to get that message. I called my agent to give her the number to the seller and she agreed to call him and get the necessary information.

This is the deal:
-9 Family in the Bronx in shopping area and University
-The owner owes nothing on the house
-Initially asked $500K buit my agent got the hot buttons and found the real deal.
-The owner has no control of the tenants, they are violent. Once a agent came to bring buy potential buyer and someone through a refrigerator out of the window. The owner actually said that if we visit the tenants would not let us view and we should carry a gun or some type of weapon when we come. No exaggeration you guys.
-So with all of that said and done My agent got this guy to a possible $250k and a definite $350K for a 3Family in NY. I dont know if you guys know anything about NY Real Estate but this is not normal at all.

I am still tossed up on this deal. I am thinking when I officially meet this guy I will officially offer him $200K for the building and tell him he does not even have to bother to let me view it I will take it AS IS and have him his money all CASH within 30 days. I will call him tomorrow and arrange a meeting for this week. That day my agent and I will present him a official written offer and try to get him to sign the offer contract that same night.

-There are obviously pros and cons with a deal like this and I have not considered discussing this with my investors yet. Right now I will focus on locking this property up at a deal that is so insane that it might over shadow the interior problems that the property posess. I mean honestly its not that bad. If you just can get those tenants out and do some cosmetics to each of the units, the gov will give you 1500-1700 per unit for section 8. These are 3 Bedroom apartments in each unit and thats what the rents are going for in this area.

We Will See What Happens.....Stay Tuned..

Your family is in my prayers. I am so glad that your daughter, wife and you are all ok.
You found a motivated seller with a problem that you can handle. You don't have the specifics worked out yet but you know you can figure it out. You are offering to do this guy a huge favor by taking this problem off his hands. He should pay you!!! The difference between the FMV and your agrred upon sale price is your payment I suppose.
Make sure you do you due diligence. What is the neighborhood like? You might want to take a close look at other properties in the same area. If you go check it out and it doesn't seem to bad during the day make sure you check it again at night. Don't let anything pop up and surprise you.
You need to start considering the move to Texas. I need a good partner.{grin}. I have a mobile home park idea(for mutiple areas along the Texas coast) that I actually thought of because of a comment from Couch Derling.
Say "Hi" to Mrs. Shane for me. Have a great day and a better REI week.

Scott

Hello DG Family. Hence the subject. The more I do the simple things that have been outlined by so many greats that have proceeded, the more things just start to happen. I am to the point now that I do not worry about anything that comes my way because I am confident in the power team that I have around me. Dont get me wrong there is always room for improvement, and the more we run towards success that will happen. I invision the day when I will have my own building with a fully operational REI staff that handles RE deals across the globe.

But First Things First.................

Yesterday and Today were pretty interesting days for me in the world of REI. I will catch you guys up on the details.

-Well I told you guys about the deal in the Bronx with the 9 Family. Its funny I called the owner to finally speak to him myself and after giving me the whole run down of the building which I had already recieved from my agent he tells me the least he is willing to accept is $450-$500K. Its funny because my agent is telling me she got him all the way down to $250K. If its like that then I definately need to let her handle the correspondance with the sellers. Whats even more funnier is I cant find this property on any of the reputable websites that give you info on properties. I hope there is nothing fishy going on with this seller and this property he say he has. None the less my agent and I are going to see this property and seller on Sunday.

-I dont know if I told you guys, but one of the 43 offers I submitted I am going to view the property tomorrow. The recieving agent requires me to see the property before he will submit my offer. So tomorrow at 10am I will go see that home. Its ironic by the house is right around the corner from my moms church. This will give me a chance to take pics of the property and have something to show my potential buyers. It will also check for any visual repairs the property might need.

-I talked to the investor I am partnering with on the short sale today. We finally got the Hud-1 from her agent that we are using. Thats good so at that point all we needed was the 2 months bank statements and last 2 years of tax returns from the owner of the house. My partnering investor asked that I give the owner a call and I did. I was a little nervous because it had been a while since I talked to her on the phone. I usually just send her a text message here and there. My investing partner usually handles the correspondance with her. To my surprise she sounded very excited to hear from me. It almost sounded like she miss me. We had a little small talk a couple of laughs, and she basiclly let me know that she really appreciate us helping her get this headache off of her hands. At that moment I really understand how most successful REI especially from DG strive to help people and alots of times you might be focused on the money but if you are doing the right thing you will find yourself naturally helping people out along the way. That is like my motto when I am talking to certain home sellers and buyers out there. "I am simply helping people get that burden off there back so they can move on with their life. I have a meeting with her next week Monday to get the final info that we need to actually submit the Short Sale package to the bank. I will also let the home owner actually see the package that we as investors are sending on her behalf. The bottom line is that she is happy she is dealing with us and her own words are that the transactions have been going smoothly. (Now newbies remember what I said in the opening about doing the simple things and everything else falling into place. I got this client by simply calling the rental ads in the newspaper.)

-On another property I made an offer on, the recieving agent called my agent to get my lawyers information so she provided that on my behalf. The reason for this is that they are submitting my offer to bank since it is a bank owned property and things will obvioulsy be more official. The communication with my lawyer will be key to closing deals from the bank. I need to know how much the taxes and other transfer fees will come up to so I can accurately mark my profit. I called my lawyer today. I explained to him that I am still chasing RE success and wanted let him know that when I think about "My Lawyer" I think about "Him" it was a nice punch line. lol He said that was good then he said he had to call me back in 2 minutes. He never did call back. We will see what happens. You guys know I am not afraid to find another RE lawyer.

-I had a customer in the tow truck today who was being towed becuase his work truck broke down. He was a construction worker by the way. As we rode to the mechanic I gave him my card and told him I buy houses all cash in 14-30 days. He said ok he would let me know and that was that. For the rest of the trip we really did not talk about RE anymore., About 3 hours after I dropped him off he gave me a call and said that he had a house for sale in Elmont. At the time I was driving so I sent this guys info to my agent and had her call and get me the necessary info. That should be ready for me by tomorrow and I will give the guy a call to confirm what I have.

-One of the agents I work with sent me about 200 bank owned properties today. I think the same investing partner I am working with on the short sale I will work with her on these properties and put out some offers with the agent who provided me that information. I want the two of us to start breaking these properties down right after we send in the short sale package. At least that will give us something to do while we wait for the negotiaition process to start with the bank.

Well when I get off the computer I will go through these expired listing my agent sent me and try to have them ready to be mailed by Friday. I am tired so I will get some sleep tonight I do have to view a property tomorrow. Not long ago I could not imagine what it would to view properties as a REI and now look I am viewing 2 and 3 in a week. Man this is a beautiful life, what will you make with yours?

Best Regards,
Shane Gore

Hello DG Family. There was not alot of action today. I really have to do something to get more people calling my 1-800#. I mean the answer is simple and that is more marketing. Most of the people that call end up hanging up, but thats what is designed to do is basically weed out the people who will not fit my criteria. I just got to keep marketing marketing marketing!! I think I should come up with a definte marketing schedule.

-This morning at about 10:20am I went to view a property that I had made an offer on. The agent who recieved my offer from agent told us that we had to see the property before.....ok you remember I told you guys already....any way I vistited and took some pics of the house and once I left I sent my agent a text to tell the agent to proceed with the process. He asked is we were still offering the same amount, my agent told him yes and with an attitude got off the phone. My agent said 5 minutes later he called back saying the owner did not accept my offer. No big deal we will move on to the next one.

-Later on in the day I called rental ads in the newpaper but I did not hit gold today but I will be out digging again tomorrow.

-Before I go to bed tonight I will review the purchase agreement provided on the DG website and review it. I want to have this document ready for the property of interest that I will viewing in the Bronx on Sunday with my agent and the Owner. Wish me luck you guys. I really would like to walk out of there with the Contract signed that would be nice.

Best Regards,
Shane Gore

Hi Shane,
We haven heard from you for a while,whats going on have you close any deals?
I enjoy reading your journal. I purchased deans book approx. 3 weeks ago and loved the info. Shane how did you like the success academy?
Jerry

Hey Jerry,

Slow down buddy its only been 2 days. Every now and then I lapse on my journal entry but all I can ask you to do is forgive me. I feel almost responsible to this journal as it is therapeutic for me and hopefully my journey will be some type of guidance or inspiration to someone else on their way.
I have not closed a deal yet but I feel if I keep taking the action steps that im taking its just a matter of time. The most important part for me is that "Im in it to Win it" because you definately can't win standing on the outside.

the Success Academy has been good to as it always nice to have as many tools as possible in your efforts to build any future, dynasty, or kingdom......the books that you brought fron Dean are enough to build your REI empire, but why use a axe if can use a chain saw..

(wow you guys are going to think this is too good to be true but check it out: as im writung Jerry, im am also at work. my phone has internet so I still do my thing. I was on my way to pick up a car. the customer rode in the truck with me to drop off his 1986 Pontiac. he was an elderly man, very nice and we talked the whole way. at the end of the ride like I always do, I have the customer my card and told him I buy houses...(30 second commercial) the man in a very excited way said "ME you are looking at him Im trying to sell a house". Come to find out he has a 2Family over a store on a busy street. none of the people he has met could afford the down payment because it is zoned for commercial. well that does not matter to me because I deal with cash buyers. for anyone familiar with Brooklyn the place is off of Broadway the guy is only asking $325K and I know I can get him lower from the look of desperation he had on his face. tonight I will check the property out online and come up with my offer. tomorrow I will tell a couple of my investors about it and present an official offer to this guy Monday night when I get off of work. I have an appointment with him to pick up when I get off of work and view the property. wish me luck guys)
this REI is funny. right when you wonder why nothing is happening or where your next lead is going to come from, if you just keep taking action what you are looking for is a business card, or a phone call, or a general conversation away. oh yeah and I hate my tow truck job but I has been a very good source of leverage in my REI journey. A good man name Robert Burkett told me it would happen like that. Thanks Rob

Well Jerry thanks for taking interest in my journal I look forward to hearing great things from you too. let me get back to work. Im on the Can Wyck now I should focus on the road.
TTYL

Best Regards,
Shane Gore

Hey DG Family. I know know its been about 2 days since I've entered my journal. Well check it out:

The last day I entered it was Saturday. As you guys probably know I had an appointment scheduled for Sunday afternoon with a guy selling his 9 Family building in the Bronx. This was also the day I was to meet my new agent that help me make the connection with this seller. Well right when getting ready to go
I called my agent she did not pick up but I text her and she was ready. I called the seller and would you know he canceled saying he was spending time with his family. Guys if you know how I felt when I heard that.. everything up until then was going according to plan. oh well I did reschedule from saturday to sunday and he did tell me to confirm the meeting before we actually met. I could not be too mad. Besides in this line of work you must keep a positive attitude.

The rest of Sunday I looked through some properties my agent sent and started getting them ready with my offer amount to submit to my agent. Honestly after the let down that day I did not have enough umph to complete that task at that time.

I also called two of the investors on my buyers list one picked up and I warmed him up to the properties I am working on. he told me he would check them out and call me today.

so now today is monday and the first person to call me about 10:30 this morning was the other investor that did not pick up the phone on sunday. He told me he had just got back from Israel the day before. if you guys remeber this is the same investor who was going to close the deal I had in Corona for $300K. Well after the small talk, I told him I had a couple of deals for us. the first thing he asked me was "Are you dealing directly with the owner" and I proudly told him "no banks, no agents, just me him and the seller" After I gave him the. #s he asked. me to come by his office, As you guys know I worked 12 hours a day in the tow truck from 8am-8pm so obviously there was a conflict. When I tried to explain this to my buyer he said, "do you want to make money or not?" he then told me to tell my boss that his car was broke down and he would give me $100 just to come meet with him. well guess what I ddi guys? I told my boss I had to leave and I went to meet my buyer. He has a nice plush office with beautiful secretaries LOL and he introduced me to everyone. while we talked and walked around the office his secretaries pulled all the info on the properties of interest. He is ready to make a move on the property in the BX if we can just get the seller to come down to $350K from $400K We called the seller and made some arrangements to meet. My buyer was ready to hop in his benz and head out with me to the wrap up the deal. He asked his partner to let him hold $5K to go lock up the deal with the seller. I had to go back to work so I did not make it to view the property with my buyer but that deal is in the making the seller just has to come down with his price. He should I mean he does not owe anything on the property and the tenants are out of control. Oh yeah my buyer does not mind about that either.

Well you might think that was enough for one day but after I got. off of work at 8pm I went to pick up the ederly man I met Saturday to go view a house he is selling. I also met my agent, for the first time, at the property. everything went well I talked to the man andfound out his got buttons like Dean teaches is to do. He seemed impressed with my agent I mean his eyes lid up when she showed and he seemed to go in some type of smooth mode. I mean she is what the generations of today would call eye candy and we do plan to use those advantages to our best interest. This is one of the reasons I wanted to have an attractive agent on my power team. Obviously there will be times when my sex factor will give us the edge also. You just got to work with what you got I guess. So after viewing the house which needs some definite cosmetic work and it has a leak this man was still stick on his asking price of $325K which I know my investors will not pay for that neighborhood. I told the gentleman I would see what I can do and left it at that. my plan is to see what my agent can do with him and maybe she can get the price down she also said she had some buyers who were looking for that type of home so we will see what happens. if she has a buyer I will still get paid so what the heck for finding that deal.

So with that all said and done I got home at 11:30 pm tonight ate dinner played with my daughter and my wife too. lol and now in the bed finishing off this entry. its now 1:30am and I have to leave the house at about 6am cause tomorrow I have a early job in New Jersey.

But for the most part today was a beautiful day. Oh yeah and I also got chance to talk to the investor that I am working on the short sale with. I was suppose to meet with our client today to pick up the final paperwork to submit to the bank but she never called to say she had it. I will jump on that tomorrow. that investor that im working with on that deal came to DG.com and likes this site and the idea of keeping a journal so she started hers also. I see myself going a long ways with that investor. since day 1 she has always been thee to answer any questions I had or to just talk about REI. As a matter of fact she was the first person on my buyers list.

Boy the life of a REI I love it!!!

Best Regards,
Shane Gore

Hey guys out there in the DG world of investing. Today was one of those days in this fight. In a fight you should never be scared to take a blow. If you think any differently, then you are definitley setting yourself up for failure. Well today I caught a cut right above my right eye, and boy if you saw the blood coming out when the "trials and tribulations" of REI hit me with a left hook that I did not even see coming. Check it out:

-Well at the beginning of the day I called the seller of the property in the Bronx with the 9 Fmaily unit. I was hoping to emphasize the fact to him that my buyers are serious and are ready to close the deal with cash in 7 days, but he did not pick up.

-I also called the client that I am working on the short sale with because I need to gather her last 2 months bank statements and last 2 years tax return so I can go ahead and submit this information to the bank, but she did not pick up. Im not as worried about her and I do not want to put to much pressure on her besides I know in her case she wants to get rid of the property just as bad as I want to get it off of her hands.

-One of the investors that was suppose to call me yesterday called me today and requested that I go to those out of control animals that are living in that 9 unit in the Bronx and ask them how much they wanted to move out. Remember these are the same people that threw a refrigerator and feces out of the window. I had to let him know in a nice way that it was not worth it for me because I had another buyer that would pay more than him and did not care about the tenants and even seeing inside of the property. What could he say. He then ask me to find him 4 Family Units in Brooklyn. I can handle that.

-I called the investor that is ready to buy the 9 Family in the Bronx but his phone went straight to voice mail. I forgot he did tell me he was going to Florida. I like that lifestlye. He just got back to NY from Israel and now he is on his way to Florida. Life must be good.

-I talked to the investor that I partnered with on the Short Sale and we discuss different strategies for our success moving on to other RE projects. What I will start doing is sending her the vacant property addresses and she will look them up and get as much detailed information. From there we will actually go out in the neighborhoods and knock on doors. We discussed sending out letters from her experience she found it not to be as reliable as actually going in the neighborhoods and knocking on doors. So guess what guys I will knocking on doors soon and Im ready for that adventure. She will also start going to the courthouses and get information on properties that have just hit foreclosure and then we will go to these properties the next day in an effort to be the first out of the others that will follow. The thing is we are making efforts for continued and residual success.

-I talked to my agent today. We talked about alot of things today. Everything from the way we plan to break down money to different ways to make our team efforts more productive. We discussed the property we viewed the night before and different strategies to take advantage of the deal even though the seller is staying firm on his price. We will list it on craigs list and see how many people bite, and this should also give us a chance to build an end buyers list. Things are going well and I hope when all is said and done she can be for me like Starr was to Matt.

-Later in the day I decided to call back the seller for that deal in the Bronx, and this time he picked up. Would you know this guy signed a contract this morning with a few guys who took the property for $650,000 CASH.........(those dots represent me getting hit and falling!lol) When he told me that I just had a little more small talk and got off the phone. OMG that hit me like a ton of bricks guys. I was not mad or anything it just kinda of hurt because I was right there so close.
But you know what guys I did stay down for too long. Through all of the hurt and the pain I told myself to call this seller back and just talk to him to find out kinda of where I went wrong. I end up having a good heart to heart conversation with this guy. We talked on the phone for about a good 45 minutes. Turns out he is an investor also so you know I put him on my buyers list. Besides he just made $650,000 that morning. That was suppose to be my deal I got to get some of that money! By the time I got off the phone with this guy he was telling me he wanted to stay in touch and we exchanged emails and the whole 9. Its like he felt sorry that it did not work out for me, but once his lawyer knew he was trying to sell the property he presented a buyer who came with $650,000. Me and buyer were offering like $350,000 so what was he going to do.

What I learned is that in this game especially in NY its so important to establish some type of rapport with the seller as things unfold because in a NY second it can be gone. By me not having that meeting with him over the weekend it never gave me a chance to have a face to face with this seller and get comfortable with each other. If we were as cool as we were at the end of the conversation today, then maybe he would not even have mentioned the property to anyone else giving me time and chance to actually meet him to get the property locked up on contract. Well my time is up in the corner. No more water, no more bandages, no more grease on my face, its time to get back in the ring.

Until the next time,
Shane Gore

You have a great attitude even when you've had 'one of those days.' (some days we are the pigeon, some days were the statue, LOL) You managed to take what could have been a bad situation (not getting the deal) and turning it into something positive and building a relationship with another investor who you know now has 650,000 in his pocket for future investments Not too shabby.

Lea
SPR Property Solutions, LLC

Yeah there was too much there to let it all go the waste. LOL I like the analogy of the bird and the pigeon. We all know Rocky had his days too. Hey what can I do Lea Im just trying to be like you guys. Thanks for those encouraging words. It always feels good to know you have people in the audience rooting for you.

Until the next time...........
Shane

btw guys Im up still at 1:30am because I am preparing the offers to send to my agent. She should have them fresh off of the email in the morning.

Hey DG Family there was definately a knock out and this time it was not me to get hit. Thats right you heard me right I DID IT!! I DID IT!! I DID IT!! Thats right if you read my journal entry yesterday you would not even be able to imagine why I am so excited at this point in time but I will say it again In two weeks at closing I will be able to officially say I closed my first deal. Check it out.

-As I was going through the rental ads in the newpaper, the investor that was going to close on that 9 Family Bronxed deal called me. I proceeded to tell him that I lost the deal that he was interested in and he asked me what I was talking about? He said there was no way we lost the deal because his partner and his lawyer had all of the paperwork signed the day before, which is yesterday. I said "No David the seller sold the property to another buyer for $650,000." He proceeded to explain to me that it was his partner that went up to the Bronx yesterday morning and finalize this deal with the seller I intoduced to them. He was just calling me to let me know that everything went smoothly and we would be going to closing in 2 weeks. The reason they end up paying $650,000 is because they brought 2 properties that day from this seller.

OH MY GOD. I AM the happiest person on the face of the earth right now. If you guys know how I felt yesterday just to find out that the deal actually did go through. My buyer was out of town in Florida like I told you guys so he did not make it to the Bronx but he sent his partner instead. Sometehing happened to his phone so he was not able to tell me the good news until today. But guys right now Im loving him and with the deal I presented him I know he is loving me. He called me today to make sure I had his new cell phone number.

NOW THATS HOW YOU START OFF THE NEW YEAR.

I do not know what to say. In two weeks I will recieve a check for $20,000. I can believe but at the same time I cant believe it. I love this REI. My agent who I have been with for a total of 2.5 weeks will get about$ 4,000-$5,000 for making one simple 10minute phone call to this seller for me to get his basic information. I probably worked a total of a few hours to make this all happen.

All I did literally was call the rental ads to see if this guy wanted to sell. He did not pick up but the next day he called me back to say he had a property to sell. That night I did not pick up due to my tow truck job but I called my agent and told her to call him back and introduce him to how we could help him out and get his info. That was Friday. On Sunday the seller stood me up so I did not get to meet him. On Monday I met with my buyer and he was very intersted in the deal. We were to both go meet the seller but I had to work. That night my buyer went out of town but he sent his partner to go wrap up the deal and I never knew. All the time yesterday I was thinking someone stole the deal it was me that made it all happen and in two weeks my life will change forever. Just to think I never have even seen the property or the seller of the property. I could have been anywhere in the world and made this happen. As a matter of Fact it has already changed. And Wow 2 for the price of 1. I mean Rina said it was a REI ride but wow to take me from so low to bringing me up so high today. This is so surreal. I dont even know what to say anymore. But finally guys I did it. I dont want to talk to fast because we still have to got to closing but this feels so good. After closing I will be starting another journal and putting this one to rest. The Fight for the First is pretty much a wrap.

I love this REI.

- Oh yeah also my client that I am working on the short sale package called me today to let me know she had everything ready for me. So after work I went over to her house to pick up the final info to submit to the bank with the short sale package. Her last two years of tax returns and her last 2 months of bank statements. It feels so good to know that people trust me with this type of important info and she really believes in me. I could tell by the way she was Thanking me for helping her out of her situation.

-I got another prospective guy today who wants me to put help him with a short sale. Right now he is working with another investor but is not happy with the service. He told me give him about a week to get rid of the other guy and to call him back. So when that time comes I will have the investor that I partnered up with on this last Short Sale to give him a call and smooth the whole situation out in favor. I try to incorperate her and my agent in as many things as I can because it take some of the load off of me and I want to build a business that is operating even when I am doing nothing. In order to do that I know I will need people around me I can trust and believe in, so I am building these relations from the ground up.

OH BOY THIS IS SO NICE. For the rest of the night I will send in 10 more offers to my agent and then I do need to get some rest I did not go to bed until 3:30 this morning, but it does not matter to me because it is all worth it.

I am on my way guys and it feels so good to know that the things that I want out of life are right out there in front of me, I just got to go out there and get it. I am so excited my wife is already telling where she wants to buy a house. I could type and type and type but I want. I am definatley looking now to hearing more success stories those of you out there becuase this REI is really not that hard at all once you have your direction and you are running towards it. MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!!

Best Regards,
Shane Gore

ps I have to get my video blog ready to send to Dean so he can put it on the website. Wow just a few months ago I could only imagine this. I will be at the edge event this year so I will see you guys there.

What awesome news Congrats!!!!! It's all so scary and exciting at the same time. What a way to start the first month of 2010! Keep it rolling, sounds like you are on the move.

Cathy

I have read your whole journal, Mabe you should right a book to. You definatly kept me reading the whole time and that hard to do. I do not talk a lot. But I had to tell you good job you deserve it. So get some sleep so you can turn another deal tomorrow. Thanks sharing your journey with us!

YIPPEE!!! Congratulations! I am so happy for you. You certainly started 2010 in a BIG and SUCCESSFUL way.

Lea
SPR Property Solutions, LLC

I am from BKLYN NY currently living in the Pocono ( The new NEW YORK ) so I applaud your efforts as well as your resolve.And this is going to make for a great book, I am new to this business but not to the business of hustle.So I bought both books and am currently reading,should be finish by the end of the month. I have watched from 1 to 23 of Deans video blog's. I plan on watching the rest between today/tonight and Monday morning. I truly believe that this can be done not just because of what I have read but because someone sold me a home. I did not check to see if his license was up to date,for all I know he could have been one of Dean's students (lol)But the point Im trying to make is it can be done folks are doing it,you are doing it,and I can also do it.So thanks for the added motivation and I hope to see you at the top.

LawrenceM
PA POCONO'S
LJM REI CONSULTANTS LLC.

Shane...
This is Hiro. I am really glad to hear this news!
Keep it up! Let's go all the way!

Congrats Shane!!! you did it. keep running with the momentum you have. Your wife must be so proud of you. I bet you will get that little girl a house of your own to grow up in soon.
good luck and god bless
Richie

Congrats Shane!!! you did it. keep running with the momentum you have. Your wife must be so proud of you. I bet you will get that little girl a house of your own to grow up in soon.
good luck and god bless
Richie

Hey I would like to thank you guys for all the nice things that you had to say. I have set a new goal as of this morning. Its funny because I was really excited yesterday, but as today plays out, I fill a void in my REI heart. Im still working in a tow truck and that was only the first deal.

MY NEW GOAL: I know you guys will hold me accountable to this in some type of indirect way. I mean hearing your responses to my journal entry naturally makes me want to succeed to the highest heights. So my new goal is to find a new lead with maximum potential for my investors to buy. When I say this I do not necessary mean to close a deal but basically have a deal lined up and ready to be closed. We will see what I can do with the people I have around me. I definately believe anything is possible. I am also proud of my agent. When I talk to her today it was business as usual and she proceeded on the next deal that we are working on. Thats the way to do it. We did not come this far to get complacent and satisfied because we did one deal. We are just getting started and she seems to understand the drive and passion I have for REI becuase she has it too.

-Today I talked to my agent about the property that we went to see a couple of days ago. The owner does not want to come down with his price so our best bet if we want to take advantage of this deal is to try to sell it to an end buyer or an investor who might not look to get such a deep discount. She has about 4 people lined up to show the property Saturday. In this case if or should I say when we close on this deal, I would just give her 50/50 of the profit. I found the seller she finds the buyer. Honestly I know none of my investors would go for that price but the power of people working together allows you to compliment each other strengths and weaknessses. As an agent she works with end buyers and has some lined up already. Before now I was only focusing on Investors, but know I truly need to add end buyers to my list. At least the properties that I cant get locked at an investors price I could pass it to a retail buyer who might not look to get such a deep discount. For me it was just a little bit harder dealing with these type of picky buyers, buy with the agent I have who is use to dealing with these type of buyers, I am what I would say good to go. I am ready to tackle anything.
We have already planned to have an open house next Saturday and she has 4 people to show the property to this Saturday. Tomorrow night my agent and I will go to see the owner and let him know exactly what we want to do to help him out and try to get something locked in on paper. We also want to get a key to show the property when ever we want. Wish us Luck. I will keep you guys updated.

-My partner I am working with on the short sale called me today. We talked about using another agent that she has used on short sales successfully. Apparently the agent we were using was not as up to par as the one we planned to use now. The new agent has already given us more input on things to include in the short sale package. It will just cost us more money out of our pockets to use her when it comes down to closing. I really dont mind because Im really getting to the point where my concerned is heavily on the fact that I want to help this home owner out of her situation especially since she believes in me so much. She was working with someone else before and for her to confide in me someone who had no previous experience in handling a short sale means alot. My job now is to get a contractor to give me a sheet listing the expenses of repair and we will submit this to the bank. I will jump on this tomorrow and I have just the guy in mind. My short sale parnter will work on getting favorable comps in the area to submit to the bank. So for the most part this process is going ok. Presenting the package I do not worry about. I just want the bank to accept our offer which is $165,000 for a 3 Family in East NY Brooklyn. We will see what happens.

-Most of the rest of the day I was washing the truck I drive at work. Boy it was cold but we have these standards and reputation on the streets as the cleanest tow trucks in Brooklyn and we like to keep that up. Besides we do not want the regular stereo-type of a tow truck. When you you break down we like for the customer to feel comfortable getting in the truck even if they were a clean cut DR, nurse, or even a REI. lol

-Tonight I will send my agent the rest of the offers on those bed-sty (area in brooklyn) deals she has already submitted 10 this week so we will see what happens. We are doing Matt's 25-1 strategy straight from Deans book. The last time I sent out 43 offers but we got none I think because we did not concentrate our offers to a particular neighborhood. So now we will send at least 25 offers to each neighborhood instead of 43 random. We will see what happens. My last offers 60% below FMV. This time Im going 50% below FMV.

-Kathy- you are right it is scary to think that it is that easy to make money in this REI business. If I can make this kind of money Im going to feel like Im doing something wrong.

-Lea- Thanks alot Lea. I wanted to close a deal by the end of the year last year but I will take two in one to start off the new year.

-Stuart and Lawrence. Its ironic you guys mentioned writing a book my wife mentioned the same thing. I dont know one day down the road of success I just may do that. That would be a good way to advertise and market what I do. LOL If you guys want it bad enough you will obtain the lifestyle that you are looking for from REI. There will definately be ups and downs but do not let that get your mind set dizzy. Stay focused and steady on the prize.

-Hiro. Looking forward to meeting you. I know we were suppose to meet last Sunday but you had a cold. Hope you feel better. We are here in NY, and apart of my drive comes from the fact that som many RE professionals told me that Deans strategies would not work in our area. All of that just motivated me even harder. Im defiantely open to networking so lets make it happen.

-B.C.- Thanks B.C. yeah my wife had tears in her eyes, and you are right I will have a house soon to raise my daughter in. I do want to take advantage of this momentum and ride it all the way to the top.

Alright guys let me get to work and get these offers ready to send to my agent. I will talk to you God willing tomorrow.

Oh yeah I wouldl also ask that everyone keeps the people of Haiti in your prayers. I have never seen such an oppressed country. Its like they cant get a break. I donated $5 today. There is a way it comes off of your phone bill. Simply text the word "yele" to the phone #: 501501
If you have an ounce of humanity in your body and you can afford. Give to the fast relief and recovery of this nation called Haiti.

Best Regards,
Shane Gore

Sorry guys when I was talking about my New Goal in my prior posting I did not write it too clear. I want to do this before I go to closing in two weeks. So in essence after this closing thats coming up, there should be one right behind it.

Peace!!

Hey DG Family!!

As I mention before, on the day of closing, which is about 2 weeks from now, I will be closing my journal entry "Shane's Fight For the First." It will only be fitting because on that day that fight will be officially be over and the winning belt wil be delivered. My only reserve at this point in time is that I know its not over until the FAT LADY Sings! I have heard of some horror stories at the closing table so I do not want to celebrate too early. Other than that Im working on finding another deal that will be ready for closing by the time I go to closing on these first two deals. Wish me Luck!

- For the past two day Ive been putting in offers with my agent. For last week we put out a total of 31 offers. At about 50%-60% below the FMV. She is telling me that we should raise the amount on the offers that I submit. I feel at this point in time I should keep the offers at this mark and see what happens. I know it will not be everyone that accepts such a low ball offer, but once we get at least one I know I have the money ready to proceed. If the results of putting out these offers from the MLS repeatedly get me no-where then what I will have to do is concetrate on building my retail or end buyers list because I know this set of home buyers will be more open to the prices I would end up locking those properties up for. The only thing is that these type of buyers are more picky when it comes to their selection. Even though I guess it evens out because investors want larger discounts so you just learn how to accomodate both thats my solution.

-I end up working my tow truck job today but it was a slow day so I made phone calls from the local new paper. Turned out to be successful. I have 3 phone calls to make tomorrow to prospective sellers. I feel real good about one. Its a lady who just wants to get out of New York, she is an investor but wants to go back south. She almost had it sold but the buyer could not get funding from the bank in time. I let her know that the benefit of working with me is that I would give her all CASH for the sale of her home. I either will give her a verbal offer over the phone tomorrow or I will arrange a day to view the property and present her a written offer. Im thinking the ladder will be more productive. It will also give more time to learn my sellers hot buttons.

-Well Im still working becuase the beautiful part about it is that I know how great it would be to satisfy my next goal but even better is that I really believe I can do it. If your perception becomes your reality I am definitely off to a good start.

Best Regards,
Shane

Hey DG Family!!

The last couple of days I have simply been trying to find sellers with enough discount on their property so I can have something to feed my investors.

-Of course I still call the rental ads and my REA started doing the same. She calls from seperate new papers than I do in and effort to divide and conquer. The rental ads do work out for me because you never know what you are going to get.

- Another agent I was working with last year started sending me listings again. He had stopped sending me the listings with the address and was only sending me the cross streets. I guess he was worried about someone circumventing him. Once he did that I stop responding and I let him know that I would need the address also. This week he started sending me the addresses again and so I submitted 9 offers with this guy. I like him because he is sharp and on point and he talks like he knows what he is talking about.. He also sends me listing in real time so as soon as they come out on the MLS they come straight to my email if it is a property that fits my criteria. I use to send his listings straight to my investors but I realized it is a much smoother process for my buyers if the contract is ready to go and they do not have to submit an offer. So now I submit the offers and assign or double close the contracts.

-Things are going well with my other agent. She is my favorite and if things work out I see us going along way. If we could work out like Matt and Starr that would be great. Thats the plan. As I mentioned earlier she is also calling rental ads with me, so I am looking forward to that pretty much doubling my efforts through the power of team work. If she brings in a seller and I match it with a buyer, we will simply split the our fee 50/50. She is an aspiring investor herself but right now she works under the realm of REA. I submitted offers with her earlier this week about 30 and we will see what happens. I am hoping we break ground with these offers because I am really looking for a sure system to getting these properties on contract at a great price. With a system that I can count on, I will have no hesitation quitting my job, especially after I cash out on this deal next week.

-The short sale is coming along, but I know I am behind because we should have already sent out the package. Hopefully this weekend I will be able to get a construction worker in the house to do a bid sheet for me to submit to the bank in favor of our offer and that should be it for the package. I would do it sooner but I have to wait for the owner to give me access to the house and she said this weekend. We do have it listed on the MLS for what the owner owes which $499K which I'm sure nonone will purchase for that price, but at least it will show the bank that it was listed and no one brought it at that price so thats why they should accept my offer. My offer is $165K and its a 3 family. If someone does come along with an offer from the listing on the MLS this will be good also. At least we will have buyers lined up for the property, so when we finally come to an agreement with the bank the buyer is already there waiting.

Well its been a tired day for me today but I did the things that I had on my list to do. I did not get into the house until 5:30am this morning. In was up to foolishness last night with my homies, but its weird when Im out there chilling I feel like something is wrong like I should be doing something different like REI!!

Well until the next time..........

Best Regards,
Shane