NeedNow's Investing Jornal

Thanks for starting a journal, and best wishes on your REI.
Great job on researching the property.

Here's a great link that Hazco Investments recommended.
"The absolute BEST site that I have used in my opinion for finding peoples address/phone# (if listed) is http://www.zabbasearch.com "

God bless,

Rina

Thank you much for the info Ms. Rina...I will put it to good use.

well , after my first previous today, (and after receiving some sage advice!!) I made a sandwich for a quick dinner, and I drove down to the property location and actually knocked on the door - even though the property looked vacated my heart was still pounding, and I was more than a little nervous - but nobody answered anyway - I noticed some for sale signs in the house foyer, like it had been on the market at one time. I can see the roof needs major work, and the inside looks a wreck also.
Soon after I saw a neighbor out doing some gardening in her front yard and I went and spoke to her. I introduced myself as someone interested in moving into the area,(commented on a lovely rose garden she keept) and told her I would like find out more about this particular house across the street.
Here's the scoop:
Its owned by an older gentleman, 60, maybe 70ish, his family moved out a long time ago, the man is only there a couple times per week. Usually late at night, and then leaves early in the morning - and I know he drives a small truck.
(One other comment on this house, the taxes on it are delinquent..)

So next:
Send a letter of interest to the address.
Try and meet + speak to the owner.

Wish me luck!
/B

Way to go! Talking to the neighbors to get the scoop, that's how ya gotta do it. You might want to leave your card at the property or a flyer or even a postcard. Get his attention so he will call YOU! Let us know what happens!
Good luck and God bless,

Ok, well - earlier this evening I made several phone calls to people in this town who have the same surname as owner of the property. I used: http://www.zabbasearch.com
...I started by calling numbers listed that had same first initial / Last Name, then I moved onto listings that only had the same family name.. When I called I expressed who I was, and why I calling and which house it is. Overall I was received just fine - I hit two for sure dead ends (no relation), and then on a couple numbers I called but did not leave a message, yet, figured I would try back.
(the reason I was calling seems like it would not come off correctly in just a short phone message)
so... couple hours later I received a call back from one of the numbers I had called, yea and get this....
From the owners sister!
It was one of the numbers where I did not leave a message...
She wanted to know why I was calling, if I had a wrong number or what...
We had a brief conversation about who I was, where I was from, where I am living now.. I was perfectly frank and honest, and once she was comfortable with me she was really a huge help...and we even have a couple people we know in common...
ok so anyway, she does not talk to the brother much, but she is due to talk to him very soon for other reasons - and she explained the house is unkept because he does not care about it, he is the sole owner, and may just want to get it off his hands....

I need to sleep now,
but I'm really excited about this.

Good night...
/B

This sounds like a diamond in the rough, good luck and God bless! Keep us posted... Remember, a business card or postcard might reach him sooner!

Good point, Even though I seem to have reached a contact, which 'might' lead to contacting the owner, and just waiting on that end of things, I will still keep moving forward with the post cards / letter of interest & etc etc as if I never spoke to anyone, thanks for the suggestion

Now, I don't have post cards printed yet,
nothing like: We buy houses.... (check, its on todo list )
But what I do have is have is a letter of interest which I've used to inquire about another property.
Everyone can Copy, Modify and use this if they like:
Any thoughts, or suggestions on this letter format would be fantastic..

It goes like this:
-----------
To: Jane Doe (owner of 123 any street)

Hi my name is ....., I am interested in buying a home in such and such area and I noticed the property located at 123 any street.
If you have have ever considered, or are interested in selling this property, I may be able to give you full price for it, my contact information is listed below and I look forward to hearing from you.

If you are not interested in selling this property, I am sorry for any intrusion,
and wish you good luck.

Name Here
Cell Phone
Home Phone
Email Addr

Sincerely....

MyName

--------------

Hello, my name is ____. I've noticed your property located ___ and want to inquire if you had any interest of selling it. You can contact me at this number. Thank you very much for your time. YourName.

You want to keep it brief and to the point. NEVER say you want to give full price for any property, especially if it's not even for sale. The more information you give, the more likely they are to see your want for the property and leverage you for more money. It's a game of words.

But you're doing great so far! Just my thoughts.

Thank's for the tip James, that makes a lot of sense.

This morning: woke up later than usual today, and missed my dentist appt
And in other news: update on property in question...
This afternoon, I mailed a letter of interest to owner of property, then later in the evening I spoke to the sister again. Property owner is not sure about selling, is considering it, and they are going to talk more about it this weekend.
Turns out, he is an active RE Agent himself - that explains the 'for sale' signs I saw in the foyer.
We will see how the letter goes, and what other news the sister may bring.
This one may be a dead end, but I am still hopeful for this and for the next one to come my way.
Keep on plugging.

Now I am going to go check new listings, work on putting a post card system together, and register on some foreclosure listings.

Good night,
and have a fantastic tomorrow!
/B

Man you would think if he is an active RE agent that he would care a little more about the property or want to just get rid of it!! I mean I would think RE agents would care about properties and how it makes the neightborhood looks!!

who knows though!!
good luck with everything!!

Shaun

With every little step you take and every question you get answered, it just puts you that much farther ahead and closer to your first deal. Feels good, doesn't it?

Best wishes,

Rina

And it does feel great!!
Thank's Rina, and everyone part of the support system here.

James is absolutely right keep it simple. You can go to click2mail to set up a postcard campagne for the price of mailing the card, I think. It's easy and quick!

Its 7:30 - I came home whipped from work, and needed to just chill out for an hour..
So.. yesterday I looked at a FSBO, its 1600'sq ranch, 2bed 2bath (easy 3rd bedroom with a little work), fully unfinished bsmt, with 1cr garage, .15 acre on a nice quite road - 'asking' 330K. The comps in the area don't support the asking price - Whats interesting about this one is that its across the street from a large wooded area which developers have been buying up and building huge 500K homes... This FSOB is in good shape, but the floors, cabinets, fixtures etc are dated, probably early 80's - is also near an elementary school.- Owner owes ~270 (1st and 2nd mortgage) and payments are too much to keep up with, and needs to get out soon and with enough left over to move out of state / start over.
I developed a good rapport with the owner, and had a long talk about his situation, the area there, and what 'he needs' to get out of this house.
And I was thinking would Elena, Anita or Dean or anyone on the DG site suggest on this one ? i.e. how can we make this a good situation for both parties?
I asked about a lease option, and realistically how low he could go...
It felt good to ask those questions, and just get right to it, but the house is no bargain right now.
I don't think this one is going anywhere soon, but I'll be keeping an eye on it.

Next looking into the AFF, I just need to know how much it cost... I already want to use it, and I'm not worried about the money, I have not been able can find a hard number of what it actually cost$ (after free trial). If anyone can send some info on that, or maybe a phone number I call to find out more, that would be helpful !

That's it for now.
Keep on plowing my way through !

~B

It's hard to make a good suggestion without knowing all the numbers first. How much does it need in repairs, what's the FMV, what are the comps? What does the owner want money now or would he be happy to have you just take over payments. These are all things that'll help you find the solution for his problem.

Brewed a fresh cup of joe with my new french coffee press.
Just recently picked it up this french press, It makes a nice cup of coffee.

I ordered AFF this morning, the full cost of the package was listed right at the bottom of the AFF order page! and I am now browsing the intro page, and looking over some of the included tools. The tools look great and those alone are going to be worth the price of admission.

Called investors today to find out what they are looking for.
All of them from ads like "we buy houses"

Spoke with one, and left msg for two others.
For the one I did speak with, the conversation went really well.
He is familiar with and does assignment of contracts, and also does bird dog fee's.
They are interested in almost any property where there is profit to be made, single family, multi family, rehabs..

Waiting on call back from the other two numbers / investment companies.
Going out now to make a lowball offer on a condo unit.
it is a motivated seller, and this one is interesting because, its an old brick townhouse style unit, and from the second floor has a ocean view - but the property is jutted up against a public park, such that when you step out the back door, you are basically in the park, its a nice buffer from the roadway.
The area also has fantastic rental potential.
Never thought about buying and renting a condo unit, have to do the numbers.
The units have almost no "common" amenities, so common fee's should be low..

It can be a great feeling when things seem so much easier once you just get up and do them.

Hey, Brian, you're reaping an investor's rewards already. Kind of empowering, isn't it?
Congratulations on contacting those investors and I wish you luck on your offer. The way you described the property makes me want to see it. Hope you get it and can share some pics!

Have fun,

Rina

Condo mentioned above ended up *not* being quite situated in the location I thought, same complex different unit.
meaning not the one with ocean view and boarding the park (also a nice view).
It is still a good rental location, watching this one, under consideration
its just one more step, keeping the eyes on the prize...
Today calling some listings..

As long as you're doing something each day to bring you closer to your REI goals then you're doing good!

Checked out a rehab property today.
Its a 2/1 Ranch - 1019 sq with a possible 3rd bedroom upstairs.On the market since Aug.
All new Mechanics, water heater, furnace, and oil tank all very new.
The owner is an elderly woman, who recently moved to assisted living - and the kids are really trying to off the property.
Inside is just really old and unchanged for probably last 50 years - basically a solid rehab house.
Its listed at 170K, and has been on market for 4 months with little to no activity.

Tonight when I visited the house, first thing I did was walk over to a neighbor sitting outside on a lawn chair(A tip from BARM)and ask about the house/neighborhood. He was very nice, and told me years of history about the house, then even came inside with me to tour the house and point out some issues other things he already knew about. Inside is a total rehab job, just old outdated.
Comps are area have sold for $190-$240.
Sounds like a motivated seller.
Next I'll do my estimates for repairs, determine ARV, add my assignment fee and make an offer.
Will have to be a 'lowball' offer - but who knows!
--
Also today I posted ads on Craigslist looking for RE investors, and people looking for rehab houses in the area.
Tomorrow I am going to see a RE lawyer to discuss my plan for assigning contracts, and to review the process and contracts with him, basically I'm leaning if I can work with him.