New Forum: Start Your Journal Here - Read First

dgadmin,

Well, we're getting more participants. I'm really enjoying watching along with everyone. I hope we get a whole list of journals in here. Thank you, dgdmin, for all your work. I hope you are pleased with our progress.

Rina

P.S. To start a journal click on "Post New Forum Topic" (up above, in this thread), name your journal, and post away! Looking forward to following everyone's success story!

I will start my journal one day next week when i have something to talk about. Anyway i have been really busy with my 2 y old. He keeps me hopping as well as my other 2 boys. Cindy

We'll see you here next week then Cindy.

Thanks Rina, I have been so busy with my 3 boys and I also just had a birthday "belated" And have been wanting to start my journal but finding the time with the terrible 2's have given me the terrible blues. Ha Ha. I'll get that journal going at his naptime or when big brother can help. Thanks for all of your support. Cindy.

If you promise not to laugh, I will start my journal today.

The collective experiences of every active participant in this forum will be good training tools for everyone who chooses to apply and profit from them. I know I will.

Mea culpa, mea culpa. I received my book two weeks ago, but I have not finished it because life gets in the way. I know, I know, excuses, excuses.

This does not mean I did not try to get my feet wet. In fact, the day after the call, I went to a library a mile away from me. I pulled the legal newspapers and read the notices. I found that NODs allow a longer window of opportunity to work with vs. NTS. Being a newbie, I picked the address of a distressed homeowner whose language I speak. I knocked on the door and asked to speak to him, but the reception I received was hostile to put it mildly. The homeowner was angry and yelled at me, I did not wait to stare at the barrel of a gun, but hightailed it out of there as quickly as my painful back could do it.

I don't think I will be this brave again. I will instead focus on the MLS listings and if I can afford it, use Dean's Foreclosure Finder Service from now on. At least it will not scream at me{*_*}. I don't take rejections personally, but I do get scared when someone is that angry. But I will get back on the saddle. I just have to recover from the initial shock.

Please tell me this reaction is not unique to the Las Vegas market.

Scared stiff but not giving up . . .

Oooooh, you are braver than me. lol
Hopefully that will be your WORST experience. It can only get better from there, right?

It will be great to have your journal added, and we won't laugh at you any harder than everyone laughs at ours. lol
It's a lot of fun, and I agree it's good training.

Best wishes,
Rina

I am going to try to start my journal now not next week just so no one will laugh. Okay I have a plan that i already posted. This is the start of my journal, so look for my journal.

no one will laugh at you. To start your journal go to the forum "Investing Journals" and start a new topic. You can name it whatever you like. I think if you start it in a different forum, people might not know where to look for it. If you have any questions you can PM me, OK?

Rina

thanks so much

I see you started your journal somewhere else. Come in here and make it official!

Sully, where ARE you?! lol

Rina

Well, it is time to start!

I am beginning this journal for 2 primary reasons:
1) Help me put things in perspective and move forward with my life so that I can achieve all the things I have known I could do but never took the final step until now.
2) Hopefully assist others through my knowledge, skills, and experiences with life and real estate.

I have been going through some professional and personal challenges over the last 18 months - my position at work was eliminated Jan 2007, 3 days later my son was hospitalized for 2 months from injuries sustained in a car accident, my daughter's near-fatal car accident in Oct 07, my mother's spreading cervical cancer, and the loss of my new job in May of this year. Yep, it's going to be interesting to see how 2008 ends.

Strengths: Christian, family-oriented, positive attitude, intelligent (my wife's opinion), honest, organizational skills, determination, teaching ability, outgoing, and good fundamental business sense.
Weaknesses: Too blunt sometimes, lazy when it comes to things I don't want to do, occasionally judgmental, little tolerance for incompetence (holdover from the Army), and buying too many boy scout and girl scout cookies.

MY FUTURE IN REAL ESTATE:

It seems all the real estate books, real estate investment CDs and DVDs, attending seminars (no comment), and forming a property management company have led me to this point in my life.

I know the real estate market in my county pretty well and have been successful in finding potential money-making properties but have failed to take the final plunge on any of them. Lack of knowledge in one area or another in RE investing can be a roadblock to success, and at this moment finding financing is mine. However, not having any money coming into the house is a great motivator so I am determined to close my first deal by the end of July if not sooner.

just cut you journal from here and paste it here

http://www.deangraziosi.com/forum/47

http://www.deangraziosi.com/forum/47

anitarny,

I'm not too educated when it comes to forums and such, so I appreciate the help!

Dave

well as i write this on my laptop, my cuzz ,kids, and i are heading to Toledo Ohio to possibly put a contract on a single family home. We are alittle more than half way there now. I am trying to buy this home with only using 2 or 3% down and then keep finding other foreclosures and investing in other single family homes or possibly a triplex next. will see how the weekend goes. I think my kids are so excited to make a buck, more than myself. LOL. I reward them with money for good behavior and so forth.

Hi there. I see you posted the beginnings of a journal today. If you click on this link below you can start you journal in the forum for journals and just continue to post under it daily.

Have a great day

http://www.deangraziosi.com/forum/47

wasn't sure as where to post, thanks for your guidence.

Thanks Dean I started this REI on my birthday 6/18 and by this time next year I WILL be a millionaire with your help. I have picked out 4 properties right here in my neighborhood that says cha-ching, but I am a novice at this. I am getting my helpers lined up to show me how to put money in my pocket in 30 days. In my area here foreclosures are to the roof and tax sales also. The trouble I am having is that the realtors, and the mortgage companies have almost everything locked up and you can't even get a finders fee here. Help! But I am not a quitter. What can I do? Loria Gathings

I won't start this journal by naming off all of the negatives I've personally experienced on this journey of my life, thusfar. Instead, here's a brief background from where I came and how I was introduced to Dean's AMAZING " Think a Little Differently " back in May 2008.

I am Don. I am presently broke and separated not by choice from the love of my life( though living in the same house as her and our 7 year-old son ). Being 40, I've listened to the advice from nearly 100% of the broke populace whom are close to my heart( family, friends, extended family of our church ) knowing full-well God placed me on this planet to break the generational curses of abuse and poverty. For over 20 years, I've bought into the majority of the MLM scams that exist on the market today selling everything from vitamins to air purifiers. I was gullible enough to believe I could achieve the mass levels of successes the top 2 percent had already achieved while sucking my finances dry.

The valuable lessons I have learned over the years from these experiences have strengthened my resolve in a way that could only be understood by those whom have chosen to think and experience life against the flow of the " normal " society. Those lessons kept me focused as I invested my efforts into graduating high school with valedictory honors( June 7, 1985 ), experiencing the rigors of military life( 1985 to 1986 ), along with many other major events in my life.

Being married for over ten years( five of the ten years have been separation years ) to a critical skeptic has been arduous, at best, yet has strengthened my resolve even deeper towards providing a much better quality of life for both my wife and son in hopes of a miraculous reconciliation between us.

My best friend and his wife drove over to our home from Carson City, NV in May of 2008 settling some legal issues here when they both had mentioned they had received one of Dean's invitational postcards in the mail to me. They could not remember his last name, yet, I did a few days previous on an infomercial. I Googled his name and, low and behold, I clicked onto the top link of the queue to do my own research. I searched Dean with a fine-toothed comb to try and find something negative about him and the REI scam he was running. For a week straight, I could not find ANYTHING negative about Dean. I mean NOTHING!!!

Since I presently do not have a checking account due to some bank error I am liable for, I enlisted my boss' 21 year old son to order Dean's BARM for my via Amazon. After handing him the cash and sweetening the deal for him for the favour, I received BARM 10 days later. I blasted through the material in the book in less than a week while running two highlighters dry. I read the book a second and third time during Northern California's historic firestorms( the Humboldt Fire was arson-set ) while running another highlighters dry of its contents to reinforce the information in my braincells. I was in the middle of reading BARM a fourth time when I enlisted the boss' boy again to order the THAD kit for me on a rush delivery. I had it in my paws a week later and could not more pleased with how deep and valuable this material really is to me. I'll be enlisting his assistance in the times to come to order biz cards and an LLC for my new investing business. I was investigating pursuing an appraisal career package from a competitor three years previous and recently, but decided against it over Dean's course when I saw the value attached for the long term.

MY ACCOMPLISHMENT GOALS AS OF SEPTEMBER 7, 2008

1) Due to the two most recent fires which nearly burned my hometown of Paradise, CA( Humboldt Fire: June 2008 and Camp Fire: June- August, 2008 ), I am mainly looking to purchasing one distressed and/ or foreclosed property in Paradise to fix and flip before October 17, 2008( my b-date ) using a simple " no-money-down ", 100% financing strategy.

2) Get through Dean's " Think a Little Differently " course by September 30, 2008.

3) Enroll my son into Paradise Adventist Academy by January 2, 2009 as he desires( it's a friend issue for him )

4) Pay off the remainder of my wife's auto loan on her 2009 Dodge Grand Caravan on December 25, 2008( >$7000 still owed on a van that has nearly 180k mileage )

5) Pay off the remainder of all of our credit cards, student loans, and other outstanding debts on June 30, 2009

6) Quit our jobs and invest full-time in our new careers as Real Estate investors

7) Buy a foreclosed home in Portola, CA for a family retreat along with the present home in which my wife claims as her own as part of my first five quickies on/ before November 30, 2008( I'll rent the latter as a lease option contract with a two-year and/ or assignment clause attached )

There are many other gaols I have written down while reading BARM, most are financial, however. I'll share those goals with y'all on tomorrow's blog. In the meantime, I am looking forward towards transferring my skills and hobbies which I have obtained over the years into investing. I'm looking forward to this new adventure in my life with you folks.

Thank you for taking out the time to read this initial entry.

I've just completed the first entry to my journal. I thoughtfully worked on it all day only for it to be flagged as potential spam. Has anyone else experienced this bump in the road, as well? Makes me wonder what I did wrong here:(

Help.

Don

Not to be discouraged and anxious to join the thread here, I am thankful to have this privilege to resurrect the dreams I have given up for dead. I have made the commitment to change the downward financial spiral my life back in June of this year when I ordered BARM. Little did I realize the rediscovery of my love for reading as I had finished the book in less than a week cover-to-cover. Then, I dove right back into the book again for seconds and thirds until I had enough money saved to order THAD( Think a Little Different ) course.

I received the course last Thursday( 9/1/2008 ) and am on pace to complete the course by September 30, 2008. However, due to the negative spiraling of my local market, I will be focusing upon foreclosures and tax liens. To take a step of faith as bold as trusting myself to another stretches my comfy zone quite a bit. However, the alternatives are bleak, by comparison.

Will add more later.

Good night.

Thank you for adding your thoughtful post to the thread. We would love to follow along as you start this new chapter of your dream. If you would like to join the many that have started journals for themselves, you are welcome to go into "Investing Journals" and create one of your own. Name it any title you feel is fitting, and post as often or infrequently as you like.
Welcome to the DG family, Don. I hope you find it an inspiring, uplifting, and encouraging place to be. We wish you much success in your REI.

God bless,

Rina

Whoa, Nelly. I've just amazed myself by stepping out of my comfy zone and out of the jar of crabs( dreamstealers ) this afternoon during my lunch hour. Actually, it was a premeditated act I've been plotting out in my head for a week now.

I was looking for that sliver of time I could act upon my desires to pick up the phone and contact a certain local realtor/ acquaintance with whom I am looking to forge a working relationship with for years to come. I requested from him an MLS listing of foreclosures in my neck of the woods in Northern California. He was very accommodating to my request as I had received the listing in my inbox this eve. This phone call lasted all of two minutes.

Next, I contacted the THAD number, thereafter, just to see if I am able to square away the services of a mentor to assist my journey in this course. I have contacted the offices several times previous over the past week only able to leave voice messages due to my late working hours. I took the monster step of faith calling the office from work and was able to speak with an actual live, breathing human being:) During the call, I did square away a specific time for someone to contact me immediately following my arrival at home to limit any time lost. Living in the Left Coast of the country does have its disadvantages when you need to do any sort of business after 6 PM. Needless to say, when I flipped through my caller ID, I had made the discovery they were attempting to contact me, just the same, upon numerous occasions today. I ended up calling all of the numbers left on my ID until I reached someone past the message phone. Must I add that the time well invested as the conversation lasted several minutes before I was transferred to another live, breathing human being for other detailed information. And, yes, I did receive a callback after the family dinner hour for the screening qualifiers of advanced training. Nothing like poking around for this information while adding fuel to the blaze burning mucho hotter inside my heart and soul than the two blazes which burned around my hometown earlier in the summer.

I am looking forward to discovering what else will lie around the bend in this advanced training, just for kicks:) Haven't enrolled yet, but I will before the month is out, if not sooner. I'm just gonna be on my knees this eve for God's miracle-working power to help me make it happen.

Until tomorrow eve, take care, all.

Daddy Reindeer

Today I am going to order my book as I sit here in my realestate office,I am always thinking of ways to improve myself as well as my income. I believe we all can learn new ideas and if we have the tools that are available from people like yourselfs we can all improve. If we incourage and work as a team nothing is impossible.If I can help anyone in the Las Vegas Nevada area,call me at [edit: please do not post emails or phone numbers] or email me.
Have a properous day!

i went under members journals, but did'nt see where i have to go to srart one. any help will be appreciated
thanks in advance

dee

Go back to member journals, and at the top click on "Post new Forum Topic". Make a post and name it whatever you like for your journal.

Hope that helps.
Looking forward to reading yours.

Rina

I started my journal about two weeks ago, however, I tried accessing it and cannot. Can someone walk me through retrieving it for daily activity. I do appreciate very much. Thanks.

Sandra

Hi guys viewing all your entries have inspired me to start my journal so tonight I will meditate on being one and hopeful start soon. It's an inspiration to read all the stories. It give much prespective to what we are trying to accomplish.

Thanks

This is the very first time I am posting in this journal. It seems to be filled with people willing to help others and therefore, it seems like a good starting point for me. I am just filling overwhelmed with all the info that I have received in the past 3 days. It is very hard to decide what to do first..when you want to do it all! I will try to pace myself and follow logic steps, even if it drives me insane. I would like to thank anyone and everyone that will be part of this new phase in my life and hope that I get to became friends with some of you, and who knows maybe one day ,I will be in a position to help others too!Let the games begin!!!!!!!

I have had dean's book for little over two weeks and I have spoken with cbrpower about re-assigning contracts,,finding foreclosures is easy where I live,, as peoria IL.,,is fairly small,,my question is what forms do I need for this strategy ,,finding out the market in my area as what is in dean's book,,is a little confusing,,and I have contacted one realtor to have him tell me that getting a fee for locating a good deal was illegal(I know it is not) basically I need to be put in touch with RE investors in this state and find what they need to make $$,,any help would be highly appreciated.