Fish's Journal "Back for More"

Hay Fish, tough break on that first deal. No matter, you didn't let it stop you and that's what it is all about. I'm sure that you will have a better out come with your next deal. Stay on the grind and I look forward to your next post.

lbrown

I know what you mean; I put offers into some REI homes but fell through as well. We can't win them all but I know there is plenty more out there to be had. Keep it up. Good for you joining the journal group. I recently started a journal as well and it just keeps me so motivated and upbeat. Keep us posted on the multi plex.

Cathy

U are off 2 a great start. Keep on moving!!

Serena

It sounds like your off to a start by taking action and thats what counts. Each day you may learn a little more to get you closer to the next deal. Its great you started your journal. A Journal is a great way to keep yourself accountable and share your insight and knowledge with other DG Members. Remember keep on doing a little each day to get you closer to your goals and dreams. Information and learning will build confidence and confidence will help when taking action. You can do it! Good luck with real estate investing. Believe and Achieve! - Joe

Congratulations on finding your motivated seller. I look froward to hearing how it goes on the 8 unit complex! And on your work with the company who advertises for the military members and the response from your letters. You are getting things done.

As for the deal falling through, yea I know that is disappointing but there are more out there!!

I wish you the best in REI.

Lea
SPR Property Solutions, LLC

Don't sweat it man, there's plenty of no money down deals out there. You'll get the next one. Everything happens for a reason my friend. Keep doing what you're doing and you'll soon have a deal locked up and sharing your success with us! ;D

All the best!

Lbrown, Cathy, Serena, Joe, Lea, and Elena thank you for stopping by my journal. I appreciate the support and kind words!

So in my initial post I wrote about the deal that didn't go through. Well I decided to mail the homeowner a package. Included in this package is the estimate of repairs I quoted, comps in the area, and contract. My intent is to let the homeowner know I was serious in purchasing his home and to hopefully put me in the forefront if/when he chooses to sell. We'll see.

No news on the 8 plex. I called an investor I met who purchases multi-unit properties and he has agreed to go see it with me this weekend.

Also, no news on the company that markets to military families.

Some good news..I finished the letter I'm going to send to Attorneys that specialize in real estate, probate, divorce, estates, etc. I've placed it below. Fellow DGers tell me what you think. I'm hoping some of these attorneys have clients that are selling homes. If I can establish a relationship with a few then the possibilities are endless.

Dear Lawyer:
We are LVL Investments Inc. My network of investors and I purchase houses from those who can’t afford them anymore due to unforeseen circumstances. I can make all cash offers and can close in 14 days or less with no cost to the owner. If you have clients who are struggling and would like to liquidate their house quickly with a fair price and no contingencies, please contact me. We can stop foreclosure, assist with back taxes, take over monthly mortgage payments – even if the owner has little or no equity.

I extend my services and welcome the opportunity to discuss any situation. Thank you for your time.

This letter will be placed on resume paper and nice labels on the envelope. I'll let everyone know how it turns out. Fish

Keep doing what your doing and as long as you don't let anything or anyone stop you then nothing can. You will reach your goals as long as you decide you will NO MATTER WHAT.

I am a fellow Texan DG student. I am moving to Victoria in March so we will be fairly close. We can help each other out...

Scott

Scott, thanks for stopping by. I'm not familiar with Victoria but I'll PM you and we can chat.

Well it's been several days since my last post. I've been working my tasks and last Saturday morning (30 Jan) I woke up at 4:30 AM to place bandit signs in my target area. It's the third week in a row I've placed them and I still get nervous. Similar to most other towns there is an ordinance in my town against bandit signs. That hasn't stopped me. I guess that could be seen as stubborn or determined. Regardless, the outcome of my campaign was one phone call and all of my signs but two taken. Beats having the signs taken and a fine:)

The call I received was from a women who's family is not living in their primary residence, lives somewhere else, tried to lease the house, and is now wanting to sell. Per our conversation she says she has little or no equity. She is supposed to get with her husband so we can arrange to meet at the house this weekend.

I attended two REI meetings this week. One meeting had a gentleman speaking about hard money loans and tightened lending. At the other meeting a guy spoke about tax savings. Good information but the time could have been better spent.

In my last post I spoke about letters to attorneys as I search for distressed homeowners. I have yet to mail them out so no news.

I did receive an e-mail from an attorney I e-mailed regarding lease options in Texas. It's my understanding that in 2005 the Texas legislature passed a law that made lease options extremely difficult to execute. I've asked this lawyer how one can get this type of transaction done by the letter of the law. He has agreed to speak to me for free. So hopefully he'll give me clear direction.

I'll keep you posted. Happy Investing!
Fish

I know what you mean by the time could of been better spent. That type of info is good stuff and we will need it eventually but it simply doesn't apply to us now.
That's great about the attourney. He could be a very good contact. I have heard about lease options being unlawful in texas before. I have also wondered how to use that lease options legally. I know it's possible but how? I didn't even think of asking a attourney....that there is a forehead slapper!
Thank you for showing me the light, Fish.

Once you find out some info on lease options in Tx, please, clue me in. Posting the info in our REI club would be even better. We are probably going to end up meeting in SA or very near to SA. Sat March 27 is our projected first meeting date.

Fish we need to chat. I replied(pmed) to your pm.

Scott

Scott, I'm looking forward to the DG family meetup in March. I'll be sure to PM you shortly.

So it's been awhile since I journaled though I can say I've been actively working my REI.

I sent out approximately 65-70 direct mail letters to the NOD list last week and the week before. I received a couple of leads from that batch. I placed an offer on one of the homes a 3/2 worth 135-140k based on comps. It needed paint and landscaping. I offered 92k. I haven't received a response from the owner.

I'm going to look at another house this weekend. This is an out of town homeowner who was renting a house but it is now sitting vacant. He said the house was broken into and has some damage. He didn't think I would want to go see it. i told him I absolutely want to see it! He is facing foreclosure so I'm hoping he's motivated enough to accept my offer.

We'll see how it goes. Happy Investing!
Fish

So I've decided to restart my journal. It's been over a year since I last posted. In that time I've worked hard at REI but didn't achieve the success I had hoped.

During that time I did have some cool life changes such as getting married and purchasing a primary residence.

Now I'm ready to attack this REI thing again for the second time. The goal of this journal is to keep me on track and on task. My goal is to have at least one wholesale deal done before 25 July 2011.

Here are the leads/offers I'm currently working on;

1) Single Family house owned by a family 8 hours away. Property was inherited and the couple just want what they owe on it which is 45k. ARV on this house is roughly 115k. Unfortunately, the sellers have verbally agreed to sell the house to someone else though the buyer hasn't been inside the house. The owners have agreed to keep my phone number in case the deal falls through. I need to call them soon just to follow up. This lead I received from my direct mail campaign.

2) Submitted an offer on a 3 bd 2 ba house in one of my favorite farm areas. This is for sale by owner. The comps in that area recently sold from 85k - 102k. The owner asked if I could make him an offer without coming to the house. I told him "sure." I obtained recently sold comps from my realtor. Came up with a modest ARV and subtracted 30%. I informed him the offer was not firm as I didn't know what kind of deferred maintenance was needed. I sent him the offer through the mail as I was out of town for my JOB. The letter was professionally typed with my company letterhead. I'm waiting to hear back from him. This lead I received from my direct mail campaign.

3) Submitted an offer on a 3 bd 2 ba house that needed a ton of rehab. This is for sale by owner. I actually found this house by searching the garage sale listings in Craigslist. Owner was asking 73k. I offered 34k based on the house needing so much work. My last conversation with the owner was that she would be getting an estimate on the foundation and contacting me. I've e-mailed her but no response. I'll give her a few more days and then give her a call.

My four main tasks for this week are to set a date for a meeting of Dgers here in San Antonio, make some more bandit signs, call Wells Fargo regarding Business Line of Credit, and create some more leads.

Until next time..

I didn't get much done in the way of REI yesterday (Wednesday) but did get a few things done today during my lunch hour. I decided to skip my regular trip to the gym and catch up on some REI (fun stuff!).

I phoned Bexar County (majority of San Antonio) code enforcement to find out how I can obtain a list of houses with code violations. The gentleman I spoke to gave me a website where I can request the public records. That's good news! All online and you can input exactly what you are looking for. I intend to look for houses that are vacant, unkept grass, dilapidated, etc.

I also phoned three other cities that I farm. One county office didn't answer, the other person was out until next week, and left a message for the third.

I found a great lead today searching the Veteran Affairs website. It was a 3/2 single family house in a decent area they were asking just under 13k. Unfortunately, I missed the deadline to submit offers. Moral of that story is to daily look for deals through that site and other realtor sites.

Other good news, another DGer and I have agreed to work together. We both have different resources so I look forward to how things will turn out.

Finally, I spoke to the owner of house/lead #1 I wrote about in my last journal post. She said her and her husband signed a contract with someone but she wasn't sure the buyer would have the ability to close. She confirmed she still had my information and that she would contact me early July, as she signed a 30 day contract with the buyer. Hope this one works out but going to keep moving just in case it doesn't.

I purchased some additional poster board to make some more bandit signs. I should have them done tomorrow evening ready for posting early Saturday morning.

That's it for today...

I had a family emergency a little over a week ago in which I had to fly back home so haven't been doing much in the way of Real Estate.

I caught Joe Jurek's call this evening. Good stuff! I actually mail to probates so it was good to hear him talking about his sucess with probate properties.

Leads #2 and #3 I mentioned a few entries ago are pretty much cold. Lead #1 is still a possibility.

Currently on the road for my JOB. I have a set date for my next attempt at a DGer meeting in San Antonio. Going to post now.

More to come...

congratulations on getting married and puchasing your primary home, but especially for getting back on your rei journey!

That's great that you're organizing a DGer meeting in San Antonio-wish I could join you! I hope you have a great turnout!

wishing you great success,
Valerie

Thanks Valerie for stopping by my journal. I'll let you know how the meetup turns out.

Got done making my additional bandit signs and woke up early this morning to put them out. At the same time I drove for $$ looking for vacant and distressed properties. So far no calls from the bandit signs but I'll leave them up the remainder of the weekend.

I did get a phone number of a house that is for sale. It's listed with a realtor. It appears to need some work.

My wife and I looked at a house yesterday 3/2, approximately 1200 square feet, sitting on .5 acre. It's a HUD home. They are asking 30k. Estimated ARV is 60k. It has been on the market for 160+ days. The house appears to be a mobile home based on it sitting on blocks though none of the descriptions online or on the tax appraisal mention it being a mobile. The house needs alot of work by looking through the windows. The only thing stopping me from putting in an offer is this house is in the country and its not easy to get to. I'm focusing on wholesaling right now so wonder if I should just walk away. More to come...

Starting another set of direct mailings.

Hope everyone is enjoying their 4th of July weekend.

Fish,

advertise the house on CL, etc. without too much detail (i.e. address) and see if you get any interest in it; if yes, then you could make an offer to HUD, but I would offer much less than what they're asking for since it's been on the market for so long (maybe 10K?)...remember: 'if you're not embarrassed by your offer, it's probably not low enough'! (Joe's quote)

Wishing you success,
Valerie

Hey Valerie
Thanks for the CL idea. I did talk to some of the investors I met last night at the meetup but it didn't appear many of them were interested. I think the house would be better suited for tenants, maybe even tenants interested in an owner finance type deal with low down and low monthly payments. I'm going to place the add tonight and see what I get.

Thanks again for your help!
Fish

since I last posted to my journal. Unfortunately I was somewhat sidetracked from REI as I attended school for my JOB. Five weeks away in Montgomery AL but I brought along stamps and envelopes to continue my direct mail campaign.

I received a couple of leads from the mailings. I have yet to connect with one of the owners who has a house in a great location. More to come.

The great news is that I followed up with a homeowner who did not accept my cash offer and asked if she would consider terms. She is willing to accept terms but I wasn't familiar with how to get the negotiations started.

I asked for help from my DG family and as expected they came through. I got great info from Chris, Tammy, and Jay. I put together an e-mail with the info they shared and sent if off tonight. I'm hoping to hear back from the owner real soon.

Moral of that story is follow up with the owners who may have not accepted your cash offer. Ask for help, especially here on DG.com. Take action and look for other ways to make the deal happen.
Fish

The owner finance deal that I wrote about in my last journal entry fizzled out. Actually I sent the owner an e-mail and have left voice messages for her with no reply. So I'm moving on. I'll be sure to follow up with her in a few months.

Great news! My wife and I had our second child last week. I've taken a few weeks off of work to spend time with the family and attend to Daddy duty. I'm extremely excited to have some extra time off to work on REI.

Right now I'm looking for another realtor. My last one didn't work out. That's two now that have not worked out. Since my time off I've met with a one realtor and spoke to another on the phone.

The first realtor I met with also invests but unfortunately he isn't the right fit for what I want to do. He was very polite and encouraged me to attend some of his mixers to meet other professionals. It's about building relationships so not a total loss.

The other realtor I spoke to on the phone was one who appeared set in her ways and pretty much said she wasn't into submitting low offers on a bunch of houses. So she's out.

I've been putting ads on craiglist regularly but no responses. Yesterday I mailed out about 65 postcards to probate properties. This morning I mailed out another 65 or so. These postcards are the third mailings I've sent to these homeowners. For this particular list I received a 2.8% response rate. I'm hoping for a bit more response this time as I've given them numerous ways for them to contact me i.e. phone, 800#, e-mail, and website.

I'm making calls to two brokers today off ads I found in the paper. I'm also sending letters to one house that had a lock box but no For Sale sign and two public notices for unkept yard. Also, I'm following up with a contact who is working on getting me a list of those houses with code compliance violations in our county. Unfortunately, in Texas that information is not attainable through a database like other information. You can find some in the newspaper and others in a paper that contains public records. Based on the research I've done so far there aren't too many investors mailing to homeowners with code compliance infractions.

More to come...
Fish

Hi Fish as the ole saying "goes you cant learn to swim if you dont get in the water"well your in the water an your treading water quite well an your on your way keep those arms an legs moving an youll be just find, success is an arms length away keep reaching , Jim

on your second baby! now you have even more motivation to make rei work! and even though you're taking time off for daddy duty, you still have to keep making time for your rei-every day! even if it is one thing you do! write your goals for the week, and then get them done... you will feel a sense of accomplishment that will motivate you to keep pushing forward.

I want to read about your deal soon!

Learning and progressing every day,
Val

for stopping by my journal. I'm trying to take action every single day. I feel like that next offer, or next direct mail piece, or next call to a FSBO is the one that will lead to a deal. Fish

You are correct. I have even more motivation to get REI moving forward. Yesterday and today were a good day as I was able to get the following done:

getting closer to attaining a list of homeowners with code compliance violations in my farm areas; put in a verbal offer on a house; sent letter to an absentee owner who received a code compliance violation; drove for dollars and found a new farm area as well as 7 vacant houses; researched those 7 houses; and met with a fellow DGer.

Tomorrow I plan to:
1) call a broker who has multiple listings
2) mail an absentee owner a postcard (house has lockbox but no realtor sign)
3) call FSBO I found searching craigslist
4) contact US Bank on a REO I found driving for dollars

To everyone's success!
Fish

This is the new word for next week. Keep it up!!!

Mike

You got it! Up at 0530 this morning:)

Got two of the things on my list done. I called the REO house owned by US Bank. The asset manager was only able to tell me that it was no longer owned by US Bank but probably placed in a Trust, since he couldn't see any history. I plan to do more research.

The second thing I got done was call a FSBO I found through CL. They are asking market value for their house I'll be sure to send them a letter with a tentative offer and my information.

Yesterday I mailed off 73 postcards to Probates. They are the third letter I've sent to these homeowners. No response from the third letters I sent out this past week. Kind of a bummer but I'll keep moving forward.

Connected with another DGer on this site and PM'd another regarding partnering this morning. I also received my Absentee Owner list yesterday.

Things I plan to get done today:
1) call a broker who has multiple listings
2) mail an absentee owner a postcard (house has lockbox but no realtor sign)
3) mail the vacant houses I found the other day driving for dollars
4) mail the FSBO
5) call the HUD ad in the Sunday paper
6) research the Trust house/mail them a letter
7) address the remaining #3 postcards to Probates
address the Absentee Owner postcards

To everyone's success!
Fish

I got several things done the past couple of days.

1) I spoke to the Broker who had multiple listings in our Sunday paper. We had a good conversation. I told him what I was looking to do and he said he could help. My wife and I are meeting him Friday morning. Really excited about this meeting based on our conversation.

2)I mailed a postcard to the absentee owner with the lockbox and no realtor sign.

3)I mailed the vacant houses I found driving for dollars.

4)Called the HUD ad in the paper. The gentleman I called actually works for the Broker I'm going to see on Friday. Funny story actually.

5)I researched what was supposed to be the 'Trust' house that is owned by US Bank. I need to call US Bank and tell them I want to put an offer on the house since they own it but can't find proof.

6)Mailed the remaining 30+ postcards to Probates. In all should have been roughly 300 postcards to probate properties. As of today no replies.

7)Mailed out 40 postcards to Absentee owners out of the state of Texas.

8)Drove for dollars and found a house owned by Fannie Mae. Need to call the listing agent and put in an offer.

Got alot of items on my list completed but no leads from my direct mail campaigns. Haven't made any offers so really need to start making offers. Looking forward to meeting with broker on Friday. Have my weekly meeting with fellow Dger tomorrow (Thursday).

To everyone's success!
Fish

So I haven't received any calls from the roughly 250 letters I sent to Probate properties. I received the best response from letter #1. These were postcards #3 in the series. I think I'll wait 3-6 months to send follow ups.

I sent out about 60 more postcards to absentee owners. These owners are all of the state of Texas with at least 20k equity. No calls from these letters. I have about 100 more ready to go. Just need to postage.

I spoke with Broker and secured an agent on Friday! The broker also invests as does the agent. They spoke to my wife and I about rethinking our investment strategy. They mentioned that in San Antonio the list for Section 8 is five years long. Therefore they suggested buying and holding placing Section 8 tenants into the house. This strategy makes sense as San Antonio's market has remained fairly strong compared to other markets across the country.

Networked with a couple of folks via LinkedIn. My fellow DGer here in San Antonio encouraged me to work the site a bit more than I had been. Plan to meet with an investor here who has houses and looking for buyers.

That's it for now. At lunch, headed back to the JOB.

To everyone's success!
Fish