Linda's (from Indiana) Journal

Sounds like things are coming together well. I am looking forward to hearing all about the good deals you find.

Sure I'll put some photos up in my journal as we work on the house. I was just telling my youngest that we needed to take some pictures today. You were reading my mind.

Keep moving forward and I'll be right here be side you. Tammy

yes, things are coming together slowly. i am having to work on patience, that's for sure. thanks for being with me in this.

talked with my coach, Sherry, for the second time today. it was very encouraging. i'm looking into a commercial deal (slowly)if for no other reason than the practice. Sherry was happy to help me with it and that means alot to me. i'll be working on building my buyers lists so any suggestions are welcome. i have to study the lesson and take ACTION! what an exciting word. i have alot of appointments this week so it may be slow going, but might as well get them all out of the way too. i am looking forward to getting to where i feel like i'm making things happen. yeehaw!

I can tell how excited you are about REI and am happy to hear that you are taking action and making things happen . To answer your question from a couple days ago things with us are going good. We are working on a short sale with another DG family member.

Lea
SPR Property Solutions, LLC

Great news that you are taking action on your lessons, I am so excited for you. Tammy

yes, i am passionate about REI and it's time to let that passion make me some money and allow me to help others in the process. exciting about the short sale. i myself am not ready to tackle that just yet, but there are plenty of investors who are very successful with it. i love that you are working with a DG family member. that's part of what makes this really real for me - that you can partner with others here and the friendships that are formed. it's really neat. i trust everything will work out well on the short sale. how fun. do you have a journal here on the website?

thanks for keeping in touch. i try to check out your journal every day. can't wait to see pics.

we are getting rain today, which i'm sure my spring flowers need. i had to go to the dentist today. i have never waited more than 10 minutes to be taken back to get started, but today i ended up waiting a half hour. my limit is usually 15 minutes, then i'm gone. after my 15 minutes, i asked the receptionist about it very nicely and told her it was costing me money to just sit and wait (have to think like a businesswoman here). they worked as fast as they could and got me in and out within the next 40 minutes. not sure what was going on there. had to stop at the doctor's office and pick up some supplements and it was right by the dentist's office, so that worked out well. i was scheduled for my first MLS classes today and tomorrow, but they cancelled them. i did get to pick up my card and card reader so i can get into MLS-listed houses, so my trip over there was not in vain. i didn't work on my academy assignments much today because of being gone so much and we are having company for dinner. i love how Chuck tells people they are our guinea pigs because i cooked. something isn't quite right there. ha! hopefully i will get alot more done tomorrow and friday morning. i made so many appointments for this week that my time here at home is quite limited. i'll have to be more careful about that from now on.

Linda,
Things are going very well for you thats good. Everything will start getting easier the more you dc them, tasks like getting on the MLS will become second nature to you.
You had asked if I was an investor, the answeer is yes. I have been investing for over 20 years, but just started in the DG family last october. I have made several mistakes along the way. I wish I hsd gotten deans books sooner in my life I would be so much further along now if I hsd. I have invested in several other courses in the past, they got me started, but they were not as explanatory as deans books and websies are. I am currently working on two homes right now. One is a rental I have been buying that got damaged from the last renter. The other is a property I got at a tax sale. Both properties are keeping very busy right now, I only can get on this site about once a week. I would put the link to my journal here but I don't know how to do that yet.
As I hve said before you will do very well at this, you have so many positive things going on that will help out your real estate investing. Just make sure you do your do diligence on each property and check them out thouroghly and don't let your emotions get in the way of possible deals. I am looking forward to following your journal and reading about your successful deals. I have to go now and prepare a contract for a future partner.

Kolby

that sounds awesome. i have invested in tons of other courses myself, but there is just something about Dean's materials. they really are different and so is his attitude. awesome that you are an investor. at least you've been doing it for 20 years instead of wasting time. i will do what you suggest for sure. i don't know how to put the link to my journal on either. what is the name of your journal and i can try to look for it that way?

i am working on the "building a buyers list" course in the Academy. it had some really good suggestions in it, and then i listened to a webinar by another "guru" on the same thing. the webinar had some more interesting suggestions and reminded me of some things i should have done long ago. i actually wasn't ready to do them then, but now is a good time. i will have to take some time to get these things done, but i truly believe they will pay off for me. i have made an appointment to look at the apartment complex on monday evening. i have a bunch of questions to put together for the realtor over the weekend. whether anything happens on this or not, it's good practice. i tend to be interested in just about anything that has to do with real estate.

Good for you for getting your dentist to get you in and our of his office quicker. Congrats on getting your card all in the same trip. Time is valueable.

I laughed about the guinea pig comment Chuck made about your cooking. Can't say that I enjoy cooking but I love to sit down with my husband, family or friends and enjoy good company, conversation, laughter and a meal together.

You asked if I had a journal, yes it's called Lea's Journal. You are so right about getting to work with other DG family members. I never expected it but am thankful to Dean for setting up this sight and giving us this opportunity.

All the best to you.

Lea
SPR Property Solutions, LLC

thanks, Lea. our company actually cancelled on us, but it was a great dinner. i told Chuck i outdid myself so i won't be cooking for a few weeks. have to rest up for the next time. ha! i'm lucky that he enjoys cooking and i do the cleanup most of the time. i will check out your journal. can't wait to hear about your deal.

today it's rather chilly, but so pretty out. it will probably be a nice weekend. i was gone quite a bit again today, so did not get done what i wanted to. i was on the phone alot when i was home. i sent my taxes to a guy in Ohio and he is doing them today. i will get a look at them through email next Monday. i will have them just in time to send in. not real happy with that, but i did drag my feet getting them in this year. i talked with a guy from The Tax Club this morning. he was very helpful and gave me some good information. i think what they have to offer is excellent, but the pricing is really high. the guy kept pushing me to put myself further in debt and purchase something, despite the fact that right at this moment i have no income at all. he finally gave up and i sensed a definite change in his attitude toward me when i said no. once i can, i will probably go with them, but it's not gonna be right this minute. has anyone used their services? i would appreciate some feedback on it. thanks. i did get to talk to all 3 of my kids today, which was very nice. my oldest daughter, Desiree, has a couple high school friends that have become partners and just out of the blue decided to start rehabbing houses in Tulsa. she was going over today to look at the one they are working on. I AM SO JEALOUS!!! two 29-year olds just decide out of the blue to do it and do it. i'm 52 and slow as molasses in january. dang it! talk about embarrassed and ashamed of myself. gotta get this show on the road. if they can do it, surely i can. i'm not even sure they know what they are doing, but they are doing something. i really admire that. i also talked with my friend in Tulsa last night. she is trying to get more involved with her husband's investing and she is the one that is so good with numbers. she is also looking into reinstating her real estate license or whatever she has to do to have her license again. she couldn't find a broker to hold it on her terms. so far, i've been fortunate about that here.

Linda, are you getting more done than you give yourself credit for? Do you keep a to do list with you of all the things you need/want to get done within a day, week , month? I wasn't doing this, and I saw something from Dean about how he does his To Do list, and I use it now to check myself. I was supprised at all the things I had gotten done (may not have been all real estate) and I realized that there is always something needing to be done, so I add when things come up, remove when things are complete and give myself a break when I didn't get as far as I think I should have.
Remember, when your young like your daughters friends are, jumping in and going full force is easy, they may not have the illnesses, family stressors to contend with. I'm not say not to use it as a wake up call, I just don't want you to let it put negative feeling about your progress in your head. Slow and steady is not a shameful way to invest. Keep positive, build actions daily, read, learn and take action will get you to your goal. Tammy

Linda,
tbobst is right, you are doing alot. Don't think you are not getting enough done. If you are working at trying to do something to help with your investing career each and every day, it might seem like things are going slow, then all of at once they start adding up. thats when you and others will start noticing your accomplishments. You are doing great, just keep working at real estate and it all will fall in place.
My journal is titled [Kolby journal--- working towads retirement] I hope you stop by and read it some time. I have to say I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up with it much lately, I have been busy. Good luck in your real estate investing.
Kolby

thanks for the encouragement. i tend to be a little hard on myself. i did listen to that video on Dean's to-do list and i need to start doing it that way. not sure where to find it again, but i probably could stand to listen to it again.

i have my Saturday pretty much to myself. i have to be gone for about 2 1/2 hours this afternoon, but the rest of the time i'm devoting to real estate. i have gone through the 3 things Indiana Joe sent to Tammy when she first started her journal. i am working on building my buyers list, but since i've had limited success in the past, i'm laying a better foundation this time. i am also finishing up the workbook on the buyers list. i have some ideas for ads and want to pick at least 3 options for ads; they will have to be free for now. i want to start with online ads and flyers for sure, plus have a couple people from my REI club too. will use dean's ad testing worksheet to track what i do. i do have a few names of people that want seller financing so i will add them to my list of buyers and contact them again to see how things are coming along. i am seriously considering telling my REI club that i am willing to work with investors as a realtor. i know alot of them have a hard time finding a good realtor, but i don't want that activity to interfere with my investing. i also will be working on a series of questions my coach told me to send to the commercial broker i'm working with on that apartment complex.
i also need to work a little on figuring out the MLS. since my classes were cancelled this week, i need to print out their little online manuals and then call my sales manager for some one-on-one training too. i'm busy today and i love how that feels when it has to do with real estate. even getting my laundry done while i work. can't beat that!

You are getting a lot done today. Hope the Investment club takes you up on your offer. Good Luck with the Apartment complex. Looking forward to your next entry. Tammy

thanks. it was so nice to have that time to do what i needed to. i could get spoiled that way. hee-hee.

i thought i was busy on Saturday! whew! Sunday was even busier. i didn't even have time to update last night because of it. we started out the day going to Chuck's Dad's for breakfast. Chuck loves to cook and he made biscuits and sausage gravy. i had to eat my gluten-free bread, but the gravy was great. we went to Kohl's for a few things for Chuck, then off to Wal-Mart for groceries. he used to love grocery shopping, but shopping with me is very challenging, to say the least. we came home, unpacked and put away groceries, Chuck purging the cabinet and fridge/freezer as we went. i'm not allowed to touch because i just shove everything to the back and put the new stuff in front. ha! we ate a light, quick lunch, then off to look at 2 open houses with his daughter and son-in-law. we also drove i don't know how many neighborhoods looking for them a house and us a real estate deal. we had a nice time and the weather was so beautiful. a great day to be out. as i was changing clothes and washing off my makeup (i can't scare the public but Chuck doesn't get too scared), i suddenly realized what i'm afraid of with real estate. it hit me hard. i have a fear of rejection and a fear of being imperfect. and guess where it comes from? MOM. she was always on me about being bluntly honest; i had no tact. since her death, we have come to realize how she wanted everything and everyone around her to be perfect. in her own way, she demanded it and we could never measure up. i love my mom, but as with all of us, she had some serious issues that we never really understood until now. so, i have to get over those 2 major things. i listened to a webinar recording with 3 women coaches that work for another guru. it was on procrastination and fear. very good information. got me to thinking alot. i am not seeing anything in the Success Academy right now that deals with the mental aspect, and i know of only a couple "gurus" out there who do. i think it is a necessity and hopefully it will be added to the course. who better to deal with that than Dean and his coaching staff. i think they would do a remarkable job of it. after listening to the webinar and several interruptions, i posted 2 ads for my Buyers List on craigslist. we'll see how that works out. so, far i haven't heard anything from anyone this morning. have a few more tricks up my sleeve. at least i did something! Chuck told me that he will help me with my investing, but he doesn't want me to make such a big mistake that i would just quit. not sure where that is coming from, but okay. i'll take it. now on to today's work.

Linda,

I've got access to some properties send me your email address

Wow, now you know what your fear is you can figure out how to deal with the past so that it doesn't affect your future anymore. I have one suggestion let go of any guilty pressure from you thinking you have to be perfect. No one is ever perfect, not even close. All we can do is to try daily to be a good, honest person. Allow yourself to think to prepare for the worst case but always to work to over come and reach your goals. I know you can do this. I'm so glad you are here. Tammy

you are such a God-send. love hearing from you. i totally agree. on the webinar they said concentrate on "good enough", so that's where i'm at.

i had planned on getting alot farther today, but i got hung up on my buyers list. plus, i was dealing with my taxes. i did get some good news. yesterday he told me i owed $1100.00+ to federal and $200.00+ to state. he didn't realize that i had paid my quarterly estimated state taxes (he's new to me and i got a federal refund last year), so things changed. i still owe the same to federal, but state owes me $937.00. so, it almost equals out and i'm so thankful it worked out so well. Thank You, Lord! He is watching out for me. will keep plugging away on the buyers list. our apartment appointment was cancelled because all the units are occupied and the time wasn't working out. will try for later in the week. we are going to look at a house with chuck's daughter tonight. chuck's dad just got here so i have to go; i cooked again and he's brave enough to try it. ha!

i started out the day really dumb. i know that sounds awful, but with my thyroid issues, my brain doesn't always work right. as i get better, that should too (i sure hope it does!). i was real confused and it started yesterday when i went to work on my buyers lists. this morning i had biofeedback, which has helped me so much when nothing else did/could. it showed that i was really having some brain issues and so at least i feel validated on that. we worked on that problem and i seem to be doing better. i talked with my coach today about the buyers lists and she helped make things clearer for me. she gave me really good ideas (i all ready knew them but needed to hear them again) and told me about the student calls mondays through fridays. i hope to be on one thursday night. today is chuck's birthday, so he is getting my attention tonight. we did look at some houses with his daughter last night and i feel they are overpriced. this is happening because sellers think buyers will pay higher prices to get the tax credit. as hard as it is to get a loan nowadays, that thinking just blows me away. then chuck's daughter's realtor told her he didn't want to make a low offer and insult the seller. that really got to me. he's a really nice guy and he invests in rentals himself, yet he has that straight realtor mentality without any investor mentality. just seemed really strange to me. my sister emailed me about doing a possible land contract on their house. it's been up for sale for a year with the same realtor i was dealing with last night. he suggested the land contract, but i don't think he made things really clear to her. so, i gave her a short version of what i think about it and we'll go from there. chuck kept saying last night how much he regrets not buying a rehab property, rehabbing it and selling it to his daughter. he mentioned it over and over. we drove some neighborhoods last night and found a nice house in a nice area. he is determined to see it, although i don't think it needs much if any work on it. i need to find him a rehab property and go from there. he needs a good project to work on anyway. the ladies that clean our house were over this morning before i left and told me of a house in a nice area that is an REO and needs rehabbed badly. it's held by the bank chuck banks at and they bend over backwards for him. so....if we decide it's a good deal, he might see what kind of deal he can work with the bank. this house is supposed to be really nasty and disgusting, so it might be perfect. the worse the better. i remember a friend of mine from my real estate club in Tulsa bought a house from another friend in our club. she took me and my close friend out to see her houses and we saw the outside of that one house, but she refused to let us go near it. she said it was full of human and dog poop throughout the entire house. my friend and i have always called it the "poop house" and laughed about it, but she made her money off it just like all the rest. it turned out to be a great deal. well, i'm rambling so i think i'll call it a night. have to make dinner and get ready to check out a property or two. will devote tomorrow to my buyers lists. i will master this!

Happy Belated Birthday to Chuck and many happy returns. Hope those leads pan out for you sounds like things are going steadily onward. Hope your health also improves daily.
I also appreciate the fact that you are here for me too. Knowing that there is someone keeping me on track with encouragement and understands the stage of life that I am in and the complications that come with it. But I know we can do this even with these complications. I look forward to your next entry. Tammy

thanks for the birthday wish. it's nice that we have each other.

got started on my buyers list. haven't had much success yet, but at least i am doing it. i emailed everyone i could think of and have had a couple of answers back. i'm very proud that i was able to make myself do it; very much out of my comfort zone. i told myself that most rejection is not personal, but so what if it is. who cares? it helped a little. besides, the people i contacted say what they want and don't worry about it. i'm trying to help, and i need to see it that way. i've been following my coach's advice. i still have not received my tax return stuff to mail tomorrow. my accountant refuses to e-file because it's really bad for triggering an audit and shows the IRS much more information than if you mail it. i can live with that, but not with the last-minute stuff. i've been working on my to-do list like Dean suggested in the video of the EDGE event with the VIP people. so far it seems to be working pretty well for me. i have all my urgent stuff done and 2 things left on the must get done list. i haven't had time to work on my misc/current stuff today. i am going to meet my sales manager at the realty office and he's going to teach me some tricks on the MLS. i'm excited to know about that. hopefully i will still have my classes next week. i think i might be able to print some manuals off the MLS site too, which should be helpful. i plan to be on a webinar tonight about buying an apartment complex. tomorrow night is the student call with the Academy. i just keep plugging away, knowing it will all come together.

What a way to step out the comfort zone. Try not to think of it as a rejection but more like they don't need your service at this time. Maybe when you get some experience and a good reputation for finding the right deals they will approach you for your services.
Keep doing what your doing. Tammy