Offline10/11/10
I am actually just getting started after a long year of delays. I'm currently working on building my buyers list which will give me a little more confidence to make my first offers. There are so many amazing deals out there right now. I can't wait, but I want to be sure I have my ducks in a row. I don't want to jump in without a paddle (or 2 or 3, lol). I want to do assignments first so that I don't have to invest any of my own money (wait, what money...?). Then I will turn the money I make from those around and use it to maybe do some buy and holds for rentals, or rent to owns. I guess one step at a time though, right? There are so many amazing deals out there right now. I can't wait to make some offers, but I want to be sure I have all my ducks in a row. I don't want to jump in without a paddle (or 2 or 3, lol).
I have been interested in Real Estate since I was younger. I bought my first house by assuming a VA loan, with $5k down. I lived there for 5 years, then rented it out and bought my second house for a song because the owner needed out financially. I sold it just at the peak 4 years ago - phew! In the mean time I had purchased two pieces of vacant property. One was 5 acres and I held onto it for about 2 years. The purchase price was $5k and my agent found a buyer who paid $64k 4 years ago! I still have the other property which I think I will try to sell now, to use the money for other RE ventures. I bought it for $2300 on Ebay, believe it or not. The seller was from out of state and had purchased it at a County Tax Lien auction for who knows how much less. Amazing! It looks like it could go for anywhere from $20k to $40k currently. We'll see. 
I purchased Dean's books a little over a year ago, while watching his infomercial late at night. I was staying with my daughter who was in the hospital for 2 months of last summer. I found an amazing deal right away, but was unable to go see the property since she was so sick, so I let it go. I found out later that he gave it away to another investor for $10k. He was asking $199k. The buyer purchased it in Nov. 2009, cleaned it up and sold it for $349k in Dec. 2009. Wow, good job, huh?
I joined the Success Academy after my daughter came home. I stayed off work for another month to care for her, and began going through the courses. When I returned to work, unfortunately there was more work for me than I could get done in a normal 8 hr day, due to many layoffs - meaning more work, less people to do it, so longggg days. I barely had the energy to work so many hours, so I put my real estate dreams on hold a bit longer.
I was laid off in January, 2010, after surviving 5 previous corporate layoffs. I knew this was a blessing in disguise. I was afraid and excited at the same time. A few weeks later my daughter was back in the hospital for another month. When she came home and got settled, I ended up being put on total disability due to a previous injury at work. More delays! Aaagghh!
After spinning my wheels for nine more months, I am so extremely ready to get going finally! Woo hoo!
"When we are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears." ~ Anthony Robbins
"Do not wait; the time will never be "just right." Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along." ~ Napoleon Hill
Jill
I had two questions that I was able to find answers to (from Spencer Wall with Redfin):
1. What is a Land Lease Fee? (Does it last forever? Can it be bought out?)
A land lease fee is simply the fee you pay annually to lease the land your home sits on. The lease usually has an expiration at which time the HOA decides if they will extend the lease or buy out the land. At that point, there is often an option to buy the land your home sits on.
2. What is the probability of the Association fee coming down? Can that be negotiated with the Homeowners Association?
HOA's: Every case is different, but I rarely hear of HOA fees coming down and I would be very surprised if they were negotiable. I've never heard of that before, but it is a good question!
"When we are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears." ~ Anthony Robbins
"Do not wait; the time will never be "just right." Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along." ~ Napoleon Hill
Jill
I keep these two sites open ALL DAY!!
Redfin.com -- very comprehensive site with comps, mortgage calculator, rent comparisons, maps, pictures, etc. They show listings from the MLS, REO's, off market homes, FSBO's and more.
Propertyshark.com -- I can look up owner information here for free!
"When we are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears." ~ Anthony Robbins
"Do not wait; the time will never be "just right." Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along." ~ Napoleon Hill
Jill
I decided to sell my lot in Arrowhead. I called a couple of agents in the area but they are not able to pull up any comps. One said he would list it for me but wants 10% or a set fee, depending on the sale price. So I think I will try selling it myself first using Ebay and/or Craigs List. I need to check to see if recycler still lists ads for free as well. I decided to list it with owner financing available at 10% with $2000 down, for $18,000.
Yikes, I'm nervous. I guess it would technically be my first deal if it goes.
...I mean WHEN it goes!
"When we are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears." ~ Anthony Robbins
"Do not wait; the time will never be "just right." Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along." ~ Napoleon Hill
Jill
So I'm listing my "Next Steps" here so that I have no excuse NOT to do them!
1. Get biz cards made !DONE! (Robert Nelson Properties Group - in memory of my dad)
2. Post ads for my Mountain Lot in the Recycler.com, Craigslist.com, and Ebay.com
3. Start my free website through DG (I'll work on my two through SFL after that)
4. Keep building my buyers list
That should keep me busy for a couple of days, right?
"When we are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears." ~ Anthony Robbins
"Do not wait; the time will never be "just right." Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along." ~ Napoleon Hill
Jill
I met a potential partner today who wants to buy tapes, or bulk REO's. I'm not sure what the difference is or if there is a difference. But I'm looking into how it works and who to contact to find these.
Would be so exciting if I can do that!
"When we are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears." ~ Anthony Robbins
"Do not wait; the time will never be "just right." Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along." ~ Napoleon Hill
Jill
Got a little stuck on the Tapes thing. Having trouble finding the right people to ask for at the banks. Hmmmmm...
Oh, but have my company name! Robert Nelson Properties Group, LLC.
Still working on the websites. Not really my specialty. I am sort of frustrated. Maybe my computer is "slow"... lol. I keep losing pages,and can't get them to look like I want. Also having trouble knowing what content is beneficial, especially for now, since I have no properties to put in yet.
But still looking at the great deals and working up the nerve to start making offers.
Does anyone know if I can submit offers without my own RE Agent? I can't find one who will do what I want. Just keep getting "oh you can't do that" or "that's not legal in Cali" or "hmmmm that must be a typo in the listing" etc. Grrrrrr! Just want to do it myself. Can I?
"When we are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears." ~ Anthony Robbins
"Do not wait; the time will never be "just right." Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along." ~ Napoleon Hill
Jill
First of all a belated welcome to the DG site. It sounds like you are already a pretty savvy investor.
You can submit offers going through the listing agent. That just means they get to double dip on the commission.
The whole website thing bamboozles me too, I am working on it though and it is slow going.
Best of luck to you in REI. Hope to hear more from you.
Cathyb
Cathy B
Follow my progress at:
http://www.deangraziosi.com/real-estate-forums/investing-journals/44397/...
Yesterday I started a different strategy. I have 6 pages of expired listings in one city in CA that I am going through one by one this week to determine which sellers to contact. So far I am discovering that many of them have been foreclosed but are not yet listed on MLS. Interesting....
"When we are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears." ~ Anthony Robbins
"Do not wait; the time will never be "just right." Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along." ~ Napoleon Hill
Jill
I've been contacting banks that are listed as the "owners" of foreclosed properties that are not yet on the MLS, and so far I can't seem to find any that will deal with an investor. They have all said that they will not work with anyone until the property has been listed with a RE Broker and then will only work through that investor.
I wonder if that is going to be the case from here on out. Hmmmm. I hope not.
"When we are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears." ~ Anthony Robbins
"Do not wait; the time will never be "just right." Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along." ~ Napoleon Hill
Jill
It looks like from what I'm reading that many financial entities are investing in bulk homes and putting them into investor funds as rentals, and using giant management companies to rent and manage them. Does anyone know if this is true, and if it will affect the "one-at-a-time" investors like me?
"When we are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears." ~ Anthony Robbins
"Do not wait; the time will never be "just right." Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along." ~ Napoleon Hill
Jill
I made three offers today - two would work as wholesale deals, and one will probably only work as a hold and rent.
We shall see how they fare... wish me luck!
"When we are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears." ~ Anthony Robbins
"Do not wait; the time will never be "just right." Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along." ~ Napoleon Hill
Jill