Johnnym66's journal

I've noticed that I'm earning points each time I comment on anything or now have finally started my journal. What do they mean? I'm still new so I'll let my ignorance shine through.

Welcome to the world of Real Estate Investing!!!!! Nice post. Don't let it deter you, there are great deals out there. You just have to find them.....Jan

Thanks for the encouragement. As you can tell I'm new at this and mistakenly called the REO's that I've been getting and finally looked at forclosures. Names have never been my strong point, but I'll get it. I've made a few trips to the county courthouse and have mailed nine letters so far for probate prospects,the last five have been to out of state owners, but no responses yet. I feel a little awkward asking someone who has just lost someone if they want to sell their newly aquired property, I don't know if there is a proper or polite standard waiting period on this type of thing or not. After reading about them I just went to the courthouse like Dean said and started with the latest one and worked backwards. I'm working on my buyers list, have made calls to landlords and i'm going to my first investment club meeting. I'm really looking forward to that. I found a local club and planned to attend a meeting with them, but when I called the contact person's number, I was told the number was no longer in service. I tried calling the place where they met and was told they no longer meet there. I finally called another group and they meet only about an hour away from me. I hope they cover the same county or area as I'm hoping to. I guess I'll find out Tuesday night. Thanks again for the morale boost...John

No problem. It seems you are starting out and doing the necessary things to jump your career off. You might want to update your user profile, especially where you live. A lot of students will look at your post and then your user profile to see where you live. They might know of something going on in your area and want you to know about it. I just had a student form California send me info on bulk deals and he wouldn't have known where I live until he read my profile. REI clubs are great, you can share info with other investors and gain a ton of knowledge. Feel free to pm me with any questions...Jan

Welcome to the DG family and congratulations on the steps you have been taking.

When you get to talk to the personal rep of a probate property keep in mind that yes they are mourning someone but at the same time have a very large task at hand. Siblings are calling them all the time for updates, rep is maintaining the property (a time consuming task) or paying someone (if they are long distance.) They have expenses to maintain the property. And if they don't it is obvious the property is vacant leaving it vulnerable to vandalism & theft. Once the insurance company finds out the property is vacant the could drop the insurance coverage on the property. This is a lot for them and you are offering a valuable solution for them. I wish you the best with this.

I wish you great success in your REI journey, thanks for sharing your story.

Lea
SPR Property Solutions, LLC

Congratulation on taking action. There are lots more property out there. You are heading in the right direction. Do keep us posted.
Vee

Thank you all for the input and pep talk. I'm going to keep things going, but I think it's also time to get some signs and fliers out there too. I'm very grateful for the suggestion about updating my user profile. My computer skills are pretty lame, but I'm learning a little bit at a time. It probably wouldn't hurt to take a typing class to give the rest of my fingers a bit of exercise too, not just my pointers. Things would more than likely go a bit faster, at least at the keyboard. Since you folks have kindly replied to my postings, you know i'm long winded. So as promissed, I'll cut this one short and work on my user profile. Thank you all again. Best of luck in all that you do especially in investing and even though it sounds like a bad line in a movie, I'll be back. Take care and God bless...John

I'm finally making some forward progress. I've put up some flyers for buyers and for sellers and have gotten some replies the next day which really shocked me. I've put my Email address on them and a number of people have asked how I could help them. I've written back to them trying to find out if they are looking to buy or sell, but haven't heard back as of yet. One interesting reply I got from a ghost ad on craigslist was from an investor located in California, who has been investing for 30 yrs. I took a look at his website and was very impressed. It had spots to click on (sorry, I don't know the official term for these...very limited computer skills) for short sales, REO's,foreclosures etc., but the best part of it for me was a link to a local REI club. I went on their site the next morning before work and asked a few questions. That afternoon, I was contacted by the secretary of the man that started the club and she then put me in touch with him. We spoke for a while as I was driving home from work. I know, I shouldn't be doing that, but anyway,we are setting up a meeting to go over my interests and what I hope to learn, what my goals are and so forth. I hung up and by the time I got in the door and turned on the computer, there were 8 Emails with various properties in my mail. It turns out that he is a real estate agent located in the town where I work. He said that at one time he had 100 rentals and has scaled down a bit since. I hope he's on the up &up. I guess I'll find out soon. The group he started has no fee to join so I'll give it a shot. I 'm not sure of the name of a site where you can check the status of an agent. I'll have to try a few different ones. Hopefully he's for real this could be the jump start I've been hoping for. I'll keep you posted. I've got my fingers,toes and eyes crossed.

Good move on the REI club, I am sure you will be very happy when you go to your first meeting. Now you already have an agent/investor to work with also. Good Luck...Jan

Thank you for the encouragement. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you, but this computer's keyboard stopped working. I now have a new one, but this one takes 2 sec. 4 each key pushed 2 show up on the moniter. I'll be getting a whole new computer next week, so I'll write back then. Thanks again. (9 min. later 4 real)

Last night was to be my first investment club meeting. I was so ready for it. I was going to record the whole thing so I didn't miss a word. To make a long story short, I got to the meeting place, waited 1/2 hour then found out from the receptionist at the place that the meeting was cancelled. Bummer. That only fires me up more. I'm going to out last all the setbacks and disappointments until things start happening no matter what. I called the head of the club, but haven't gotten a reply yet. Just some more fuel for the fire. I'm thickheaded about some things, and this is going to be one of them. I WILL WIN! That's about it for now, but just for now. I know it sounds like a bad line from a movie but " I'll be back". So long for now....Johnnym66

Due to technical difficulties on my end, I was unable to get a copy of Joe's book. Way to go Joe! From all the replies I've seen so far, it's a tremendous tool. I can't wait to get my own copy and go to it. Maybe we'll have two best selling authors in the family. Good luck Joe. Hey could you autograph my copy when I get it? Short one for now. Take care everyone...Johnnym66

I got to take a break with my brothers and a niece to go jetty fishing Sat May 22. I finaly found a picture to put on here. We all caught a couple of things that day and I even made it on line with this catch. It was only on a jersey tackle shop's site, but I was there.

Hi,
Back again. Since I went fishing with my brothers and my niece and caught that striper ( 1 p not 2), my mind slipped from real estate back to fishing. That's just a temporary setback. Even though I've just met my nephew in law, I guess he'd be called, From New Zealand and saw my niece for the first time in over three years, and I have a fluke tournament with my father and two brothers and even possibly my son next weekend, My feeble mind is now back where it should be. On investing. Although not 200% at this point, it will be after the tournament, it's refocusing in the right direction. I've gotten Dean's latest two Emails and have read just about all that I've found on The Edge Event and my brain's spinning again with the possibilities. I'll finally get the chance to go to my first investor's club meeting this Wednesday evening. I hope they don't cancell it again. I might cry a little bit if that happens. But I'm really l0ooking forward to it. My digital recorder is ready. I'm ready. I hope they are ready for me. I have a lot of questions for them and I hope they have answers for me. Especially ones that I'm hoping for. Anyway, after this weekend, I'll be even more addicted than before. I hope my mind can wrap around all this, and I can finally make something positive happen. If not for me, than at least for somebody. I can't believe all the great information that has come onto the site from Bill O'Rafferty and everyone else. I hope I spelled Bill's last name right. This is just soooo amazing. I hope that I can put it all together, or even part of it together and do something positive with it. Hopefully after Wed. evening, my head'll be plumb ripe like Jethro Bodine's from The Beverly Hillbillies, and I can finally get into gear and make things happen. But for now, take care, God bless and good luck.....Johnnym66

Well I'm gonna give it a try again tonight to attend my first investors club meeting. The last one was cancelled. I guess everyone but me knew because as far as I know, I was the only one to show up. I guess that was the case because since that would've been the first, since I don't know anyone else in the group, they might've shown up too. There'll be a few guest speakers tonight and a 10.00 fee at the door. So as of 1:27 this afternoon the meeting is still on. My digital recorder is ready, I'm ready, I guess I'll see if it finally happens. My fingers and hair and eyes are crossed, so we'll see. If it does occur, I'll be back on tonight to decompress and unwind. Really looking forward to it. I really want to post something other than still pluggin' away.

I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted anything. I did finally get to go to my first investor's club meeting. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I did meet some people and make a few connections. The meeting, unfortunately, didn't last very long because the Stanley Cup playoffs were still going on. Whew! It has been a long time. I don't follow sports other than the ones that my sons are in and only a very little fishing. I did get a hit on a small site I have on line. Not my professional one yet. It is from a poor girl that is going through a divorce and is heading into foreclosure. I told her about short sales and about deeds in lieu of foreclosure, but she isn't quite sure what to do at the moment, and unfortunately, neither am I. I promised her I'd do my best to help her out, so I'm turning to "the family" for suggestions. I went onto Totalviewrealestate.com and sadly she owes more than her property is worth. It's a nice house on a cul-de-sac, 3br 21/2ba colonial with a 1 car garage, sunken livingroom, kitchen, diningroom, familyroom and full unfinished basement on about 1/2 acre. The value has dropped well over $1,000 in just the past two weeks. It's not in my area and at the moment, I'm not quite sure what the area's like. The neighborhood looks beautiful on Totalview, but that really isn't much good other than annice picture. There are always a few days between my texts and her responses eventhough I've told her that she has to act fast. I feel kind of responsible here. Not for causing the problem, but it seems like she's counting on me for help and advice. So, any suggestions wouldbe grately apreicated.As I said earlier, she owes more than the property's worth, so other than those two suggestions, I'm not sure what to tell her, and I'd really like to help her out, so HELP, please.

Johnnym66

I'm totaly embarrased at how long, again, that it's been since I've posted anything. I've been on numerous times, read lots, but haven't posted anything. That's finally about to change. I'm now a member of the Set For Life group. I just need to find someone to learn me some computin' skills so I can take full advantage of it. I've recently been informed that I have ADD. That explains a lot of things for me. One of my sons was diagnosed with it in his junior year of high school thanks to an on the ball guidance councelor. I thank God for her. The thing that hit me was every symptom that they said he had, I've noticed in myself for years. I just never really gave it much thought. Now that I do know, I can take some actions to correct some of that. Anyway, I'm really excited to be a part of SFL and I'm finally going to do something about it. I've just as of two days ago relocated the REagent that my wife and I bought our house through 25 years ago. I wasn't sure if he was still around or not. He really blew me away way back then when we bought the property before it went on the market, without bidding against anyone else, and rented it back to the owners for 6 mos. until their house was being built. He had been the origonal agent with them and knew their situation. He is an investor himself and has a number of properties tht he rents out. My life is finally about to change for the better. Yahoo! I'll finally be able to pay off my triplet's college loans, pay the house off for my wife, and even do a little something for myself. I've always wanted a house down the shore with a boat in my own slip out back so I can take my family and friends for some offshore fishing. My Aunt called me over the weekend and told someone is mailing me two tickets to see Mr. Dean Graziosi himself in Phila. on Sept 11. Since I've got no support here other than "let me know when you get rich" I have no one to go with. If anyone is interested, please let me know and we can both enjoy and learn from The Master Himself. I guess that's it for now, my two typin' fingers are gettin' wore out. Be back soon. Take care everyone and best of luck with your investing.

I'm really looking forward to Saturday the 11th when Dean comes to Philadelphia. The only thing that has me concerned is the fact that the invitation was mailed to my Aunt and I'd be the guest. My problem lies in the fact that I'll be there at the very begining and my aunt won't get there 'til later on. I hope they let me in and then let her in later if she even shows up. She was under the impression that it would be a seminar on setting up web sites. When I told her it wasn't, she seemed to lose a bit of interest, and I don't believe I look like an Anne. I guess I'll find out Saturday. I've been moving along with the Set For Life System, slowly but surely. I've only completed the 2nd webinar so far. A girl from the REinvesting club I belong to has given me a few properties to pass along to some of the people on my buyers list to see if there are any takers. Unfortunatly, I still don't know how to get in touch with any of them. I have 695 cash buyers in the two counties that I've picked, I've looked over 25 of them up in the phonebook by name and address, but it finally dawned on me that those addresses are not owner occupied. At least not the ones that I've looked up yet. I'll have to try another way I guess. I'd really like to help her out and help complete a first deal. Even if it's not my own. I'm still having trouble changing my mindset to an investor mindset, but I'm not about to give up. I still owe a bunch of money for the SFL program. I wouldn't give up anyway, but that is a pretty good incentive to keep going. At least it's gotten me to post more frequently, which is a good thing. I'm surrounding myself with like minded folks like yourselves and who knows, something might just click and get the ball rolling. I guess that's all for now. Take care and best of luck in everything you do. Johnnym66

Wow. It's only been since yesterday, and I'm back again.I was reading some posts this morning before work and a lot of them were mentioning different things about being grateful and it got me thinking. It occured to me that just about all of my posts were leaning towards me whining about not moving along fast enough to suit me. I never really did have too much patience with myself. But it also got me thinking how incredably lucky I am as well. I have my health, Three fabulous sons ,all Eagle scouts and all doing well in their third year in college. I must be still around for some reason. I've almost drowned as a kid, been run over on my bike by a car, poor Schwinn and I've even been lost at sea. Unless I'm on borrowed time, there's still more for me to do. I'm hoping helping others by way of investing is it. It's amazing how much we take for granted. If you stub your toe, all of a sudden you need that toe for everything down to breathing almost. Those posts this morning kind of put somethings into perspective for me, and for that I'm greatful. The realtor I'll be dealing with soon losy his wife, who was an only child to breast cancer back in 2001 and is now waiting with his only child for his Mother-in-law to pass away. He said he'd be in touch with me after that. It really is amazing how much we really do have to be grateful for if we stop to think about it. Today I made my first daily to do list with the three columns like Dean spoke about in one of his many, many tips and was thrilled with the amount of things I got accomplished, especially from my urgent collum that I most likely would've forgotten had I not written them down. Things are really starting to come together. I even got through almost half of the third SFL webinar without my head exploding. I'm even learning more computin' stuff. It's gettin' scary, but in a good way. I think I'll quit for now on a good note & wish everyone success in everything you do. Take care and God bless. Johnnym66 over & out.

Hey, back again. It'sFriday the 10th and tomorrow morning is Dean's presentation in Philadelphia and I can't wait. I've been looking forward to this ever since I heard about it a week or so ago. I got a call from a Josh who told me for $9.95 I could get a 1-on-1 with Dean's people at the event and I'm really psyched about that. I've been going back and forth about which way to head, but this morning I was reading about probates on the site and since I already own Dean's probate system, I've decided to run with that. Unfortunately, since getting home from work this afternoon, I can't seem to relocate and finish what I was reading. Bummer. I'll find it though. Anyway, back to tomorrow. I'm bringing a digital recorder to get and keep every word spoken. As long as it's ok. I don't want to forget anything. The SFL system is finally starting to sink in. I'm actually bagining to understand some of this computin' jargon. I listened to some of the lessons along the left side of the home page and they're making sense to me. Miracles really do happen. This is really starting to get good. Things are falling into place instead of all over the place and my mind set is starting to change for the better. I bet when, not if, I review all of the stuff again, I'll pick up tons more that will sink in. I guess I'll call it quits for now. I'm gonna do more soichin', loinin' and preparing for tomorrow's big event. Take care everybody, God bless and happy investing. John

The live event in Philly Saturday was great. I was a little disappointed that Dean himself wasn't there, but I did meet another celebrity. Carol Stinson, and she couldn't have been more nice or down to earth. She spoke for a time, and when there was a break I happened to catch up with her in the hall got to chat with her for a bit. She was giving out some advise and even her Email address. There was a man there that wanted her phone# and must have asked her for it at least 15 or 20 times and would not take no for an answer. I felt so bad for her. She kept saying that she didn't want to give it out because her phone would just be ringing off the hook. She finally ended giving out her buisness card that was luckly not her home number, but he just would not give her a break. Anyway I did want to mentoin that she was and I'm sure still is an extremely nice lady.I also got a call from Sean from Dean's camp this afternoon while I was at work at a client's home asking me about the Success Academy. I couldn't talk at the time,so he said that he'd call back tonight. This could be the break I've been hoping for. I have both Live Edge 09 and 10 and the Probate System and even recently got the SFL system, but just can't get anything going yet. So I'm hoping to get involved in the Academy and finally jump start my long overdue new and improved life. I guess I'll know a little more tonight.Best of luck everybody and God bless. John

I am soooo psyched!!! I just joined The Success Academy about 30 minutes ago. I'm going to be a milionaire!!! At this point, I don't even care if I spelled millionaire right or not. THIS is what I've been needing and waiting for. I'll get my call from my personal mentor tomorrow night and I'm off. This feels better than Christmas did as a kid! My bloods a pumpin', my thoughts are a racin' and that's not the iced tea talking! It's for real. I'll finally have more than the three medallions that have been sitting under my points for ever. I want to collect a whole pile of things like the big dogs. Absolutly no disrespect intended. I'm sorry. I'm just a little excited and apparently I type like I talk when I get excited...nonstop! eventhough it's with two fingers and the pages of the dictionary are flyin' so I don't look 2 stupid. Just 23hours and6min. 'til my call, but who's countin'. ME! I guess I'd better stop before I damage the keyboard. I can only hope that all of you are having even 1/100th of the kind of night I am. Take care, God bless and YAHOO!!!...John

I finally got through my orientation and to my first assignment.It took for granted that I had already knew the basics of marketing and had created my marketing strategy from the buisness setup and marketing lesson. Since I had not had that training yet,I called them to ask about it. They told me that the lessons were in order according to my particular goals and to just follow them in the order presented. It seemed a bit odd to me,but I'm not going to question it any further. They're the ones teaching me. They have their work cut out for them.I was just wondering if anyone else had the same experience? Anyway,I'm off to the races. I'll be thrilled even getting a single rose let alone a whole pile of them draped around my neck like Secretariat did. Sorry, not sure of the spelling on that one. Well that's all for now, I've got some homework to do.Take care,God bless and happy investing. John

I've finally gotten a chance to get into my first lesson in "The Academy". At the moment it's a lot easier than I was thinking it would be and I'm realizing how incredably valuable the SFL system really is. I'm not gonna worry about spelling at all in this post, so please excuse any faux pas. I imagine the lessons will get more detailed and involved,but at the moment, my mindset is "Ican do this" and it's really a fabulous feeling. Once I get the SFL computin' stuff down, there'll be no stopping me. This is just too cool for words. I'm still going to try though. As if that isn't obvious. I'll be on this site more than ever and maybe even adding a finger or two to help with my typing. I hope you don't get sick of me,'cause as hard as it is to believe, I sometimes tend to rattle on a bit. But consider yourselves lucky. You should here me talk.255 words per min. with gusts up to 400. Unfortunately, I've got a ton of stuff to do before I can pretend to sleep, so that's it for now. So once again,take care, God bless and have fun. WOW! I wish I could bottle this feeling. Bye 4 now. johnnym

I'll be picking up a printer for my computer so I can print out my workbook portion of my Success Academy lessons and get to work. I'm having trouble thinking of anything else.I kind of feel like how Dean imitated Joe and Stacey at The Edge 10 Event,a gigantic smile,some writing and another big smile. I guess you'd have to see it to get it. At last I'm finally making progress, both physicaly and mentaly. I don't think my spelling has been effected in any way,but it sure feels great. I can't wait to start checking off the goals and racking up the knowledge. Short one for tonight. Don't get used to it though. Take care, God bless and have fun.... Johnnym

I finally got my printer,completed my first lesson and got a 91 on my first quiz. This is so cool. Everything is explained so clearly and a lot of it is a bit of a review of what I've been reading in Dean's books and watching on his DVD's. The best part for me though is that it's coming together and sinking in. It's even staying there. Wonders never cease. Hope that's spelled right. I'm almost through my second lesson tonight, but I had to take a break for my brain's sake, and have a little output, like Dean's shelf, so I have room for more input. I didn't want to blow any gaskets or anything. I probably should've bought a second black ink cartridge when I got my printer. There are so many pages to copy in the workbook. It's a good thing though,I could always use something to review and refer to. I was telling one of my sons about me being back in school and he went ballistic. I've never heard him get so excited about anything. Cool,I've got a supporter. Calling it quits for now. I know it sounds like a bad line from a movie, but I'll be back.Take care, God bless and happy trails. John

I'm really starting to fall behind in my Success Academy studies. Two more people quit at work in the department that I'm in . Now we're down to two and the other guy isn't all that responsible. We are covering an area that was once covered by 4-5 people and now I'm on call half my life! Since I joined this company just over 1 year ago, there have been 9 people that have come and gone. It's a terrible place to work on one hand. On the other,I'm using this constant abuse from my supervisor, who is also responsible for ALL the others quitting, as my motivation to make real estate work for me and get me out of here. I was doing pretty well as far as I know in the begining, but when the two latest deserters left(lucky devils) things really got worse. I'm still plugging away though. I'm about to join my second investment group, and now with some of the knowlege from the Academy, I have a better idea of what questions to ask and thanks to the SFL system, I'm learning how to input stuff into that system and keep track of it much more efficiently than Postits and looseleaf notebooks.Long story short, I'm still making progress, however not anywhere near as quickly as I'd like. Things could always be worse though. It could be Monday. Take care, God bless and good luck investing. John