Rina's DAILY JOURNAL: Chapter One - The Beginning

5/3/08
Today I showed a house we bought recently to potential tenants.
12:00 said "too small" but I put him on my buyers list
12:15 excited couple filled out application
1:00 & 1:15 took applications to fill out
1:30 no-show.
In the meantime I cleaned paint spots off the windows and made phone calls.

At home I looked at 3 new websites to learn new information, and of course spent time with you guys on DGsite

Rina

6:00a.m. sat on the couch waiting for the deal of a lifetime to land in my lap.

6:01 a.m. well that didn't work so I started researching properties on the internet

9:00 Met with the President of Valley Bank to discuss national inflation issues, re-fi stategies, interest rates, and talk about his list of REO properties across the nation. (This was an important meeting-this guy just met with Alan Greenspan 2 weeks ago on some issues).

10:30 Met with my property manager

2:00 Finalized a couple offers that required my signatures.

3:00 Looked a a bank REO

3:30p.m. time to eat breakfast

There you go! Both ends of the gamut!
(Sorry, cbr, you can't count the 1 minute of couch time.)

4:40am On the computer looking at real estate websites from east coast
looking for deals

6:00 Started on local sites looking for GREAT deals and checking out DG

7:00 Pretended to be susie homemaker and actually COOKED Breakfast

8:00 Started calling my 2 realtors with myy list of house I wanted info
on.

9:30 Talked with them again set up 5 appointments to look at houses today

10:30 1st house upside down - no CASH FLOW potential

11:00 2nd House was a wreck and owner owed nothing on it but because it
was on 1/2 acre wanted 359K when it was comped at 146K he must
have bumped his head.

11:45 3rd house was ok but only 3K instant equity and neighborhood no so
good

12:15 4th house was really nice and in price range - it was a short sale
asking 100K even but upon further investigation owed bank 310K -
could not figure that one out so walked away.

1:00 5th house was actually 2 houses on same lot - REO and priced at
359K on 1/2 acre. Comps were in 245K range but owner anxious. He
owes nothing on home but asking HUGE over price because he will
Owner finance 80% at 3% interest if you give him his huge asking
price. It figures it will com out to same thing as if he priced
lower and you got loan with higher interest rate. H was funny but
it was a nice property. Passed.

3:00 Took mom and kids to Rubios for late lunch

4:45 Came home dead on my feet

5:15 Got call from neighbor across street. They are moving to San
Diego this month due to husband got job transfer and wanted to
know if I wanted to lease purchase house. Told he more than
likely (its gorgeous and the highest valued property in
neighborhood. Lost very little value in down cycle. Told her I
would come over tomorrow and talk about it. (too tired right now)

6:30 Dryer stopped working and headed to laundromat (ugh!!!)

7:30 Back home and on DG.....dang I am burnt out!

Hey,you guys! Now it sounds like my day was only 3 hours long! lol!!!!!!
Just to set the record straight, started at 5:30am, will probably end at 11:30pm. I was doing respite care all day and doing the "family" thing, too. (bottom lip pouting).
Anyway, everybody, you get the picture.
Add your two cents!

Rina

I am going to

"BE A REAL ESTATE MILLIONAIRE"

Wow....just the thought makes me want to scream.......

aaaaaahhhhhhhhh!

5/4 (edited in due accidental deletion)
Comment: 6:00am Checked out overnight DG posts. Wrote back to a friend.

8:00am It was my respite care weekend so got young lady up & ready to go.

9:30 Dropped her off at home 25 miles away.

9:30 Jon (my husband) & I showed house to single lady.

10:00-1:00 Church (was a LONG service today. Fun, though)

family time - it's our son's 18th birthday.

4:00 Showed house to a couple-took completed application

6:00 Home. checked out DG.

7:00 Cooked fish dinner.

9:30 DG site crashed again. Get to go to bed early.

5/5

3:30 - 4:30am Checked out overnight DG. Answered PMs. Looked at Zillow.com.

Started on wedding stuff. Our daughter announced her engagement this week. Wedding date August 16th! I've got a ton of work to do in the next 3 months!
I'll try to keep going on the RE, though.

5:30am "Officially" started the day. Husband's breakfast, packed his lunch, said good-bye, out the door.

8:00 - 11:30 Volunteered as test moderator for high school.

12:00 - 4:00 Regular bookkeeping job

4:30 home

5:30 - 8:15pm Staff Appreciation Dinner at school

9:30 DGsite, 5-day sale site, checked out a couple of others.

All I really fit in today for REI was scheduling 3 showings for tomorrow, peeking in on DG through the day, checked e-mails from realtor, thought about offering on the HUD house, and am ending my day with a little surfing and DG.

Looked through new listings.

Showed the house 3 more times. Have enough applications now to decide on.
Accidentally locked my keys in the car at the house I was showing!!
Had to wait 45 minutes for my son to get there, meanwhile tried to get in through the trunk! Must have looked really cute to the neighbors!
what a waste of time......

Called the carpet cleaner for Friday.
Called the renters at the duplex, let them know we're replacing the windows within the next couple of weeks.

Took care of a sick husband in the evening. Bad migraine.

Spent time with you guys on DG.

SULLY: woke up @ 7:15am,left for work @ 8:00am,arrived @ work @ 8:37am (7 min. late),proceeded to work until 8:30pm(12 hour day),girlfriend picked me up from work @ 8:35pm,got home @ 9:15pm, and that pretty much sums up my life for the next 5 days i repeat that schedule over and over,however this tuesday i am looking @ a nice tri-plex,right now because of my FULL TIME job i move @ the speed of a land tortous(turtle),at least it seems that way compared to you guys.there you have it,my 2 cents,YOUR HERO,SULLY.

My hero.
Why don't you start a journal, too? It's ok if it's mostly the same stuff. You can fill in the REI that you are able to do, and when you look back, you'll be all the more glad to see it progress over time.
By the way, good luck on the tri-plex.

Rina

P.S. You can count your "teaching" time, too.

4:00am Looked through new listings. Visited DG site. Answered PMs.
Started the day as usual 5:30am
Laundry, cleaning, all the other daily stuff. checking in on DG
1/2 day worked regular job. Called the chosen applicants to sign contract.
Practiced with my mom & daughter for upcoming event.
Got several calls from oldest daughter, picking out wedding dress & other items.
Read some of BARM.
More DG.
Went to bed. 11:00

Anita,

I have noticed a very nice side effect from being addicted to dg.com. In my spare time I love to bake & make things for people, but end up "taste-testing" in the process. Well, in the last month all my spare time is spent on dg.com and I haven't been picking at stuff. I lost like 4 pounds so far. I didn't realize this was a good weight-loss program, as well.

There is a cluster of houses I'm curious about. I normally wouldn't even look at these because they're not in my favorite part of town. But, for some reason about 10 or 12 showed up in the MLS in the same week, all in the same neighborhood. I thought maybe they were some investor's "rental farm" but upon investigating, they are owned by different people. I haven't called the realtor to look at them yet. My husband has asked me to pleaase slow down. He's feeling really stressed and I have to respect his request. He is my partner, after all. Anyway, I'm thinking of just "looking" at them. They're all in the $40K - $60K range. Could be good rentals. But, like I said, not my favorite part of town.

4:30am Looked through new listings. Visited DG site. Answered PMs.

5:30 start the day.

Well, it was a very nice day. Spent the day painting the interior of one of our smaller houses. My mother-in-law worked with me for the majority of the time. We had a really nice visit. The rest of the time was just quiet. Gave me time to reflect and just think about things.

8:00pm got home. Checked on DG. site down again, so chatted with Anita. What a pal.

Printed off a bunch of recent listings in our area. Looked up info on them.

Cooked supper at 10:00 when Jon got home.

11:30 Checked on DG. back up. Checked out what I missed during the day. Answered PMs.

1:30am went to bed.

Is that a typical day?? 3 hours of sleep?? O.o

Lazy, Sleepy Mark

I've got to fit everything I normally do in. Plus visit you guys about 20,000 times a day! I'm hoping my addiction will taper off before I have bags under my eyes.

Thanks for sharing how your day goes, investing wise, looking at properties!
I find it useful and interesting.
Sincerely,
Scott F.

are very welcome. And thank you for joining us.

Rina

Slept in until the alarm went off. 5:30am
Saw my husband off to work.

Caught up on DG overnights. Answered PMs.

12:00-3:30 worked regular job.

4:00-8:00pm Raked & cleaned up the yard at the foreclosure house with my daughter.

8:30pm Stopped at my Mom's on the way home to practice again for tomorrow.

9:00pm Home. Back on DG.

10:00 cooked supper when Jon got home.

back on dg for awhile.

11:00? bed

We are in our fouth week in this journey. Tripped over this site the other day.... Signed up and learned that there is all kinds of information here! Also learned that we are not the only ones with long days!!! AWESOME.....

5:00am Walk a mile on treadmill during the rain storm
6:15am Browse DG and learn some more
7:30am Day job (IT Speialist)
12:00 lunch
12:30pm meet at bank to set up Equity line of credit
5:00pm Meet realtor to pick up Sign acceptance for 2nd rental house
5:20pm Home repair store (Bomgaars) cost of shower/sink/faucet stuff
6:00pm Track meet with Son (first in the 200 and high jump)
7:00pm Leave message with home owner about helping with foreclosure
8:25pm Drop daughter and her friends off at the movies
8:30pm Celebration pizza dinner at Pizza Ranch
9:20pm Shower
9:30pm Work on materials list for an offer to be made on Monday
10:00pm Listen to the next lesson at interactivetrainingsystems.com
10:30pm Read more on DG site
11:00pm Pick up girls at the movies
11:45pm Pray with wife and go to bed

Regards,
DeJor Properties, LLC

Nice to meet you! And tell your son congratulations!

5:00am checked up on DG site. Answered PMs. Looked through new listings.
6:00 saw husband off to work.
Spent the rest of the day working at home and at the little 2-bdrm house getting it ready for people to move in tomorrow.
(10:30am Had a brief but nice visit with a friend.)
4:00 Headed home.
Got ready.
5:30-8:00 Went to and sang at a Mother/Daughter dinner with my mom & daughter.
8:30 DGsite
made supper
? bed

Mothers' Day

Spent time on DG. Answered PMs. Read through Dean's blogs, some of BARM.
Looked at new listings online. Checked out Tulsa listings. Found comps for cluster of houses I'm watching. Learned a bunch of new info from the forums.

Spoke to the sheriff’s dept. about a legal issue.

Abandoned car was finally towed from foreclosure house.

Called 4 property management companies:
Spoke at length with a gentleman at first company about all aspects of property management. They only do the leasing part for 12-month lease, taking 1 month‘s rent as fee. He was very helpful and gave me numbers to a couple of other full-management companies.
Left message on machine at second one.
Secretary took message at another (managers were in a meeting).
4th call, turned out it was an investor/realtor/manager that I had done transactions through before, third-party. We talked for quite awhile. He was very helpful. They charge 7% of gross rent collected for multi, or $85mo per single-family. He said most SFR owners choose to do their own. Their fee was all-inclusive, which I guess is pretty good.

I called an FSBO that I drove by. More expensive than I’m looking for.

Drove by 12 or 15 listed properties I hadn’t looked at yet while I was in town.

Called the renter on 1 side of the duplex to offer to start looking for a house for them. They’ve got 3 young children and he likes to work on cars out of the garage. I asked him if they had thought about buying a house. (They’ve rented from us for a few years.) He said yes, they had actually just started to get qualified. I told him to let me know when he has some numbers and I’ll help them out. Maybe we can help finance down-payment. He sounded very surprised because I kind of called out of the blue. I’m sure I’ll hear from them before long. I’ve got a house in mind near where they already are. The kids could stay in the same school.

Tha was a very good job with the duplex tenant Rina. Thats what I mean when I say get out there and do it. I feel you on the rest of your day. I have been here all day just resting. I sleep for 4hrs and woke up just in time to pick kids up from school...lol....I must have been really tired.

With the week you've had so far, I'm glad you got some rest. (You're only half-way through, you know. )