Rina's DAILY JOURNAL: Chapter One - The Beginning

You're a sweetie. Great job on jumping right in and supporting everybody! It's people like you who make others feel confident in moving forward. You're gonna do great, yourself!

Make sure you start a journal so we can all see your progress. (You, too, Jan. ) That's great that you're already so far into the program!! You're gonna LOVE Dean's book! And I know you'll take it FAR in REI.

Take care, David.

Talk to you soon,

Rina

Thank you for those sweet words. I'm always available to help those in need. Coming from 5 years of Customer Service heh i guess you could say i seem to come up with ways to encourage those needing it... Yeah i'm gonna start a journal real soon so i can update progress and keep you all posted. *awaiting Dean's Book* *anxious*

I'm bout to hit the pillow. Been up all night researching and studying. Heh I'm a night owl i guess you could say.....

Take Care Rina,

Have an awesome day today! Make it happen! I'll be back on a little later to read about your 2 house deals today! Ask and you shall receive! Keep your head up high and land those properties! Good luck! God Bless!

David

Couldn't close on the Brule house yesterday. Still complications on the seller's (FNMA) end. First they said a relative signed the name of the deceased owner, then they said they found him alive(???). I have no idea what's going on. What's frustrating is I have 3 different parties waiting to look at it that want to do a lease option. btw, the family that wanted to rent it because they were losing their house looked at it and decided it was too small for them (it's almoat 2,000 sq ft with the downstairs, but they're leaving one about double that size).??

My dad will sell the farmhouse with garage & 5 acres (including fenced-in pasture) for $80,000. (My realtor gave a BPO of $100,000). He'll finance 20% of purchase price at 0%, and we will get the other 80% from bank. NMD!
I have to wait a week to talk to the banker, though. Both the VP and the branch manager (my 2 business bankers) left on vacation (1 to Turkey, 1 to England). Plus my "partner" won't sign any more paperwork 'til the deal we're in the middle of is finalized.
Now I just have to figure the comps for rent. I already know they'll be enough to cover holding, but I'd like to have cash flow, too.

Looked at a 3/1 REO Thursday. dropped from $59,900 to $34,900. Decent neighborhood, garage, fenced-in yard. But when we went out the back door, we were looking around when suddenly a big black thing just about jumped over the fence, growling, barking. Neighbor's huge black dog on a thin little chain. Gail (my realtor) and I just about jumped out of our skin, hurried back in the door. (It wasn't nearly as bad as YOUR dog story, James. still scary, though)
Gail said, "Think that's why it hasn't sold yet??" MmHmm.
Any ideas on how to "move" a dog?

Sounds like I'm about to play musical renters. One family told me yesterday they need to move to Madison middle of next month (job opportunity). Of course, I'm happy for them and I'll let them out of their lease. I'm sure I'll get someone else in right away and can give them most of their deposit back. Another tenant called this week to say a friend is moving to town and needs a place (preferably the other 1/2 of the duplex she's renting.) SO I called the family in the other 1/2 of the duplex and they're going to look at the 1st house tomorrow. (He would love to have the bigger garage) Then I can raise the rent on the duplex when the friend moves in. lol Oh, the joys. :-)Might turn out totally different, but it sounds good.

Spent most of today at home catching up on housework and popping in and out of dg site. It's cool how many of you newbies are coming in to join us!!! Stick around. It's a great place to be.

They Sign the deceased papers then he comes alive? Ahhhh ZOMBIES! Sounds weird. Yeah that has to be frustrating that 3 other families want in on it.... Is the first family wanting to pay cash for the house? or financing?

Hehe a family that wants to leave almost a 4,000 sq ft house? Greedy boogers... Lol I would settle for a 4k sq house. Toss it here!

Good Job on the NMD deal there Rina! Way to go girl!
Lol you mean you don't carry a bag of dog treats with you?
I'm sure playing musical renters will be fun for you Rina. It's nothing you can't handle

Great Job! Keep up the AWESOME WORK!

Newbies Unite! Woot Woot!

All 3 parties interested want to do a lease with option to buy. Once I own the doggone thing I can use the interest of each as leverage to get them to buy earlier instead of later. I can run a specific ad "for sale" when we actually own the house. I'd like to sell outright rather than hold, but I'm keeping all my options open.

The family leaving the 4,000 sq ft is losing it to the bank. They just want to rent something comparable to what they're used to until they decide what their options are. But in that regard "Good luck."

Yeah the NMD will be a good one (for several reasons. ). Hopefully my bankers come back from Europe.lol Well, at least they already deposited the money for the other house in my bank account. Maybe I'll go to Europe, too. haha JK

7/27/08

Church

Dinner with our Pastor and wife, who are moving to Texas next week. GOOD friends. We'll miss them.

DG site

new listing came over e-mail. called realtor immediately. she called back, had it set up for within the hour.

Country 3/1 (1680 sq ft) 2 fireplaces, w 2+garage, 5.9 acres, great view of valley and lake in distance. Land includes field/pasture and wooded section. Beautiful yard.
Asking $29,900!!!
ARV $92,100 (FMV with assessor's office, will probably be more w/ comps)
Priced as a tear-down. Would definitely NOT have to be razed! after looking at it. But just the land, huge garage, and utilities in place are worth WAY more than the asking price. I believe it's an estate. All the contents of the house MAY be included.

Offered $25,000 (wrote and/or assigns )(probably should have offered full price. Oh well.), finance contingency, well inspection. Will hear back by 8/3.

Nice chat w/ DeJor today.
Did some bookkeeping at school.
Spoke w/ renters.
Drove past a couple other listings.
DG site, as always.

I'm tellin' you, I live in the wrong darn part of the US! The houses you showed me are nice AND dirt cheap compared to around these parts! I might start investing there instead... LOL! Don't worry I wouldn't compete with you, you're my sister!
But thanks for sharing your deals with us, you keep us moving in the right direction!!
Continued blessings and success for you,

I'll even do what I can to help! There's too many deals here for me to keep up with!
Seriously. We could do the partner thing. You come up with the $$! LOL!!

I'm open to suggestions.

Rina

I am excited for you. That sounds like a really good property and I am sure that you made the offer that you felt comfortable with!
Let us know how it goes.
I am going to be asking you to help me work out a couple of options I have come up with.
God Bless, talk soon!

I'll be here, all ears.

Rina

P.S. I should know about the property by Monday.

I kind went out with 'a new eye' for deals this weekend and found several very interesting properties right near where I live..

5 weeks ago I got approved for a rehab style loan to purchase & renovate a home (for another property which I did not get), but now this has got me looking at even more 'run down' houses, and this weekend I put my time in driving around, kept it within 4-6 miles of where I live, and I found three homes which look totally unkept, beat-up and run down (all in good nighborhoods), and it looks like two of them are not even lived in...(one of those is across from a very scenic ocean view!)
None of the homes in this case are listed, or posted for sale.... So now I wonder if the owner may be interested in getting rid of a problem property ?
So whats next?

I'm thinking that I will go two the town hall on monday, get whatever records on who is getting taxe bills for the property(s)...then look up names + telephone + contact info, then call or send a letter to the owner(s) to express interested in buying the property, see if I can find out what is 'they need' to get from it...
HA! if they even talk to me..

But what to say or write ? I have not done this before, I remember reading an example of such a letter in Dean's book, I might try to find a sample letter/proposal like that to at least base mine off of.
Not sure, not even at that point yet...

Well,
that's it for now...hope to offer more exciting news soon!
~Brian.

I did not even know I had a visitor. (I really need to look in here every day!)
Good job on getting out there to look at properties!
You're right. Go to the courthouse (or online if your county has it available) and research those properties. And then you can get in touch with the owners.

And, hey, if you were wanting to start your own journal, you can start a new one in the "Investing Journals" forum. Then we can all keep up with your daily REI stuff. But you're sure welcome to join me in here, too, from time to time. Company is good. lol

Good luck, Brian, with your REI and congratulations on taking those first steps!!

Rina

Well, I am getting some experience in with the assignment process. NOT a good experience, but learning nonetheless.
This past week an investor from the West Coast contacted me about purchasing a/some property/ies in our area. Since I can’t possibly pick them all up myself, I thought it would be a great opportunity to try some assignments of contracts. I have been recently signing my offers with my name and/or assigns, but haven’t had to go any farther with them because they have not been accepted or countered. The most recent one that I REALLY want, they countered back, but just deleted the and/or assigns. I countered back without pushing the issue.
Anyway, after searching properties for what the investor was looking for, we found a good deal on a large FSBO in a good location. But in the meantime of talking back and forth with the out-of-town owner, I came across an even better deal on an REO in town with more potential. So we decided to go for it. I met with my realtor at the house to do a walk-thru and called the investor to give him live feed-back. When I got off the phone and went to talk to my realtor about the offer, she said she had talked to the title companies and they would absolutely NOT close on an and/or assigns. There has to be the name of the end buyer ON the purchase agreement. In addition, she is SO worried about me getting caught up in a scam on the internet (she and I have become pretty good friends). I did my best to reassure her. She also said that, in recent years, out-of-town investors have been buying up properties here and then losing them to foreclosure, forcing tenants out without notice.
What we ended up having to do is the investor has been sent the documents to sign himself and he and I have worked out a different way of compensation for finding the deal and following through with some rehab. SO I have to say I’m very disappointed in not being able to do an assignment. I will have to look into whether it really is or is not legal in our state, or if people are so unfamiliar with it that they just run the other way, OR if there is another reason. It’s possible that it wouldn’t be a problem on something other than an REO, or for sure if I sought out FSBOs. We’ll see how it goes.

On another note. The elusive Brule house. Fanniemae STILL cannot give an understandable explanation as to what is holding up the title work, TWO WEEKS after we were supposed to close! The lease-option buyers I have lined up keep calling me for updates. I’m thinking I might have to walk on this one, as much as I hate to. It’s tying up my funds, time, and credit just waiting. It could be months yet for all we know. And I’m passing up other great deals in the meantime.

Well, I’m leaving out a lot of other stuff but this is boring enough already, so I will end here.

Rina

(The reason I’m writing all this is so other people can see that there can be unforeseens in REI, and complications, and that we all go through set-backs. But NEVER do I feel it isn’t worth it. It’s just part of the territory, and learning to make the best decisions you can based on the circumstances, and knowing when to fight and when to let something go and move on to the next. Thank God for friends and mentors. At times I really feel exposed in my journal, but I hope it’s helping some others, or I wouldn’t bother doing it.)

you know...i have found that thier are a LOT of TITLE CO. that don't completly understand the whole ASSIGNMENT OF CONTRACT thing, i found myself explaining the process to quite a few TITLE CO., and because they don't understand thier quick to say "well thats illegal", when in fact it is perfectly legal, thats why i like using RE attorneys, rather than TITLE CO., YOUR HERO, SULLY.

Thanks for the input. I think you're right about them not understanding. I called the gal at the title company I do most of my business with, and she is going to really look into it for me, along with the concept of double closings. The thing is, it usually takes so doggone long to get the title work done and close here, usually at LEAST 3 weeks, sometimes 6 or more. I don't know why. She said that would really hinder a person doing a double closing. Anybody have some thoughts on this, or suggestions?

Rina

You can STILL do a deal this way, even though you don't sign and/or assigns. I will give you all the details step by step. It's way too long to type it all here so email me at my personal email and I will send it back to you. It's because all the rules have changed now so you have to do it another way. It's still an assignment in theory, but it's done differently to avoid all this illegal crap they tell you. My info is on my profile.
Don't lose faith yet sister, I will show you how to do this so you and your buyer will still be able to do deals together!!!
Love you dear sister,

I will be in touch.

Love ya, sis

Rina

Look who's talking!! The best of the best!!
Love you too dear,

Oh, it's a sad day....
Had to cancel the Brule house offer. Still no word from ANYONE (on the FNMA end) on when the title work will be cleared up. Everyone here is frustrated with the situation. SO back to the drawing board. (I will see how ethical they are. It'll be interesting to see if they (FNMA) put it right back up for sale, even knowing that they can't possibly close with a buyer)

Even worse, though, I lost the 5.9 acre house (after countering full-price) because I put a financing contingency! They accepted another offer, with ours as a secondary. On these GREAT deals I cannot play around like that, whether I actually HAVE the money or not. (Please note this is my opinion for myself, NOT advice.)

One good thing, my investor got a counter-offer and has promptly accepted, so it LOOKS like that's a go.

My 3/1 renters moved out yesterday. I started running an ad same day. Got a bunch of calls. Met with a lady. She'll be moving in this weekend. Cool, one-day ad. That's the kind I like.
Didn't end up playing musical renters. Everyone's happy where they're at.

Life is picking up the pace. LOTS of other stuff happening. But I'll focus on REI here for now.

Walked through a couple of properties yesterday. Starting to look for a second one for my investor, along with more for me. Met with FSBO owner of 7-plex. Got info on that.

Signed purchase agreement with my parents for the farm. Hopefully that deal won't take too long, and I'll have it rented out by October.

Started working on the Foxboro house.

I've cut my "job" hours even more so I can focus on REI.

I don't see you applying for business credit anywhere... Hmmmmmmm! Maybe I missed it... LOL! R I N A!!! I'm glad you got all that done but don't know why you keep putting that down on your list. Do one application per day if it's too much. You know I love you dearly and only want to help by nudging you gently, SO DON'T MAKE ME COME OUT THERE WOMAN!!! I gotta go to w.o.r.k. now... I'll be back pardner!
Love you sister,

I'm ignoring your reprimanding for now. (Maybe that will force you to come to Wisconsin )

Got stuff on my plate for myself, my investor, family, YES BUSINESSS CREDIT APPLICATIONS, Foxboro house, marketing, auction. Should be a busy week!

I heard back from a local broker/investor who's blog I had run across awhile back concerning starting an REI Club in our area. He's swamped right now, but is looking at starting up come winter. I'm excited!

Here is my reply today...

"
Adam,
Thanks for the reply. It would be great to get a club started up here. I believe the nearest one is about 2.5 hrs away down by the cities. I am currently part of Dean Graziosi's program. I don't know if you've heard of him.
www.deangraziosi.com
There is a ton of GREAT support on the site from investors all over the country, but I feel like we're really missing out up here, not having a means to network. By the way, I appreciate your website and your blogs.
If you know of any groups meeting in Duluth/Superior area or have any advice, I would love to hear it. My husband and I have had rentals in and around Superior for 16 years, but just this year I'm getting really serious about investing. Have bought 5 places in the last 6 months and are just getting going. I've been working closely with Gail ****** from ****.

I'll keep in touch, and again, let me know if there's anything I can do to help get things off the ground. Winter sounds good, but keep me informed if something comes up sooner.
Thanks so much. Maybe we could meet up when you've got a little time.

Warm regards,

Rina
"

Heehee, so you're all famous. (to me, anyway)

My investor's got me thinking more than I normally have to for my own purchases. I can easily decide yes or no on the spot when I look at a property. NOW I have to write down information and "verbalize" WHY a place is good or not. I'm also having to "list" repairs. I like it. It's helping me grow some more.

Church today and got together with family, so no REI (except DG site, of course. And some prop surfing online )

Hey Rina,
Congrats on getting in on the organization of a club! I was hoping you'd have to come down here! lol! You are such an insiration! My first meeting is this Thursday, I'm dragging my hubby with so he can see the "big picture" and I hope to meet someone willing to partner with us to help us get started since it looks like a HELOC won't be possible. I saw on Craig's list 6-4 unit bldgs. in our area. (too big for my purse but maybe your investor would be interested huh?) I'll let you know how it goes at the meeting. Maybe I can start my own journal when I have something to write about!
Your sis,
Dawn

... (ooops, submitted twice, sorry!)

Rina, Thank's for exposing some very possible, and at some point likely, setbacks in the REI business - its a huge motivation, and great inspiration to keep on digging and pushing...

/B

I wish I could attend yours with you, too. That would be great!
You and your hubby will have fun.

You know what? There are thousands of people that view this site. I have no doubt some big-time investors are keeping an eye on it, too. They don't necessarily post, but they're here. One of them contacted me, and we are now doing some REI together. Anyone showing potential COULD catch the eye of one of these people, so, EVERYONE, get out there and show'em what you're made of!

Don't be afraid to start a journal now, Dawn. It's really fun and you'll be surprised to look back and SEE what steps you make!

God bless,

Rina

Thank you, and you're welcome.
Keepin' on, that's what it's all about! NEVER give up! (I guess that goes for anything in life )
Good to have you here with us. Will be watching for your sure success!

God bless,

Rina

That hurts Rina... Ignoring moi? Just for that I'm not bringing it up even if you ask... HA! Just kidding.

I won't ignore one of my favorite people in the world!
Luv ya, sis.

(I'm probably gonna be asking for your help on some other website "issues", too. )

Me, Ri

You know my door is ALWAYS open for my sister in crime, I mean rei... Hee Hee!