FAQ: Answers To The Most Asked Questions - Start Here

well i like to start off by saying hello to everyone.My name is mike and im 41 ,i live in illinois in the northwest subards. I didn't get deans book but i got his think a little different cours. I been reading it for the last month and listing to deans cd that came with it, I can realy see myself doing this. Im a electrican that does houses for the last 15 years, so i know alot about the inside and outside off them. What i don't know is about the buying and selling of them, which is why i got deans course. I always wanted my own business for last 15 years, i tryed doing my own electrcal company but that didn't work. I realy want to get things going, but i came to a brick wall and im trying to find away arond it. Its fear and its stop me from following eeverthing in my life. I been reading all the post and it sounds like this is a realy nice tight family hear and realy want to get past this.So is there anyone with a suggestion, i no i just need to do it but even the thought of picking up the phone and getting a buyers list starts getting my heart bounding and my hands sweaty, not nowing what to say or even now how to fake it. I know i can do this i just don't want to feel like im all alone in this field. so any input would be great. I can't wait till the day comes when i can say that i did it , thanks everyone and good luck in your journey of being a succesful REI

your friend
mike

remember "If you always do what you always done then you will always get what you always gotten"

Welcome to the DG family, we are happy that you decided to join us. Taking on anything new is challenging and somewhat scary. I was scared when I had to make those phone calls too. I have scripts to read when I do, but my stomache's still in knots. I don't know why it is, but it is. Some people don't mind making calls, but I HATE it. Whenever it's over, I tell myself "that wasn't so bad." But then when I have to make the next one there I go again. My suggestion is to practice doing it with a family member or friend first. This helped me. I used to rehearse my calls with my daughters and a friend of mine. The first time I contacted a seller of a home I found, I actually had my friend ON the call with me. It made me a little calmer but I still forgot to ask questions I had on paper. HE actually asked them... LOL!
The point is, you have to face your fears (whatever they are) and do it. One step at a time, you'll be sorrier if you don't do it or at least try, than if you do, believe me.

Good luck and God bless,

The first thing I would like to say to you is .... you made the right choice by joining. I have read many books, invest money with organizations that never gave the knowledge Dean has. And the people are great on this web site, Elena, and others have answered questions for me that has help me along the way, just keep searching and you will do ok at this! Also since you are an electrician that skill will work for you in this business. Good Luck and we will see you at the top!!!!!

Gina

well thanks Elana and Gina for that warm welcome and its nice to meet you both,Im realy glad i join this site and to get meet new people just like myself. Just got done reading the forms on SCARED TO DEATH and felt good to know that im not alone I guess i just need to "feel the fear and do it anyway". I can connect with alot people on hear, and we all have to start from the begining. I can remember when i first became an electrican i didn't know anything at all,but as the years went on i caught on realy fast because i wanted to learn everything about it.So that being said lets do to REI as i did to being a electrican and make to the top

mike

remember "If you always do what you always done then you will always get what you always gotten"

Hi everyone,
I am very new to all of this, I have my LLC already and I was working with a company that was helping me and I thought was doing very well, but recently has been "disbanded" I would think would be the nicest term I can use here. Unfortunately they have left quite a number of people in the dark as to what to do from here, especially the newest people to this form of investing. I am now stuck with a house in Florida I would rather not have, as I live on the west cost in California, and I also can't afford to keep paying for the mortgage on it.

The way this other company had explained to us that it would work, was it was supposed to be put under our (my husband and mine) LLC AFTER we closed on it, and that they would get renters into the house for us and the rent would cover the mortgage payments, and upkeep, and any extra would then come to us in the form of a check every month (they said about $300 - 500/house each mth) this sounded great. Well the company was ordered to, "cease and desist", shortly after we closed on this house, so it didn't get transfered into our LLC and I would like to know if this is still possible, or if I should even bother at this point.

And also, now that I'm looking into it more deeply, because I have to, as they are no longer there to hold our hands, I am realizing this was never the case as the house could NEVER have brought in that much income. I spoke to a management company that looks after several of the houses in that area and asked them how much rent could be expected from each of those houses, and their reply was anywhere from $1000 - $1500/mth. Now this may sound great but as I am on the west coast I would need a management company to look after the property for me, and their fee would be 50% of the first months rent and 10%/mth thereafter plus another 50% upon lease renewal, then they also wanted an account to have $250/mth avail. incase of repairs, then you were also required to pay for lawn maintenance and jacuzzi upkeep fees??!! (those should be the responsibility of the renters in my opinion).

Anyway after all that there is not enough to pay the mortgage let alone get a check back to me, so I have no idea how this company figured that I would make any money from this. and right now all I want to do is sell this house a.s.a.p.

If anyone can help me here please let me know how to do this. I need to get this house gone with as little loss of money on my part as possible (preferably none if thats at all possible).

Hopefully
Arzosa

Unfortunately you didn't do your necessary due dilligence in researching the property, researching the turnkey company that you used, or researching the area. But the thing that I admire about you is that you did something and you probably learned a great deal about this crazy business. Now you know that you just can't buy a property, rent it out and get a check in the mail. It takes a lot of work.
This experience shouldn't deter you from this business. It just takes a little more work than some think.
I would also suggest picking out an area in your local community that you are more famailiar with and research that area for potential deals. I bet there are many hidden gems in California with the state of the market these days.
Please don't take this post the wrong way. I am not, in any way, chastising you for making a bad decision. I am happy to see someone TAKING ACTION
Cheers

I'm sorry to hear about all that. Have you considered owner financing the property? You would get a down and carry the note until paid. I think it's the best way to go because you have NO tenant problems with this method. You can also lease/option it, you get a down and and extra amount each month that goes towards the purchase price. Also minimal risk with tenant issues. There are plenty of exit strategies you could use you just need to decide which one works best for you.

Mike,
Glad to hear that you're ready to face your fears. You're exactly right, it's just like when you started being an electrician. One step at a time, til one day you mastered it and conquered your fears in the process. Stay on that course and you will have plenty of deals in no time at all.

Hay man would you by chance have any advise for me. I bought dean's book and im trying to find investors to gain a finders fee on property. What am i doing wrong

Keep reading the book and the forums.

Hi Anita my name is Mike and I just signed up today and I am going to need a seasoned person to answer some of my stupid questions. Will you be available. Thanks Mike

very happy to be a part of the DG family!
i finished reading BARM and it was one of the most well organized and written books i ever came across. i felt that all the questions have been answered as i kept on reading, it was marvelous. now i am a little stuck with what to do next, where is the best place to get forecloses? i know they form at the town clerk's office, but i don't exactly know how to approach the people who work there and how to ask for foreclosures. any help?

I'm about to finish reading your book, "Be A Real Estate Millionaire", and I have bad credit, no money down and I'm still looking for investors. I need help looking for some investors to buy the first property. If you guys have any ideas about investors in California please let me know.

Depending on where you live, most Investors can access their countys "LIS PENDENS" or "NOTICE OF DEFAULTS" right ON-LINE, i guess, you would just call your county and find out or you could google your county too and if it does have a web site it will pop-up on google. Now, lets say that your county does have access ON-LINE, the next step would be to see if you can get into the "LIS PENDENS" yourself, if you can't call the county and tell them what your trying to do and they'll walk you through it(they did it for me!). So, lets assume you NOW have access, you would then want to print the list or write down the list, once you do that, it's then up to YOU and YOUR MARKETING to get them to call you, SULLY

I tried to find the answer to "What is the cost of a Title Search?" using "search" but it came up with "no results." I imagine it varies, but is there a ballpark answer to this question?

Talk to a Title Company to see what they charge.

Al

You need to improve your google search skills. Here it is. http://www.protitleusa.com/ Full search for $137.95

Good luck.

You can also do a preliminary title search by yourself. Go to county record room.

I am having a hard time getting started. I've been calling lawyers, mortgage brokers, etc. and I feel like no one is really trying to help; no one returns my calls from messages, am I doing something wrong? I live in Houston, TX, is there anybody out there from my area or with any kind of tips that could help me out?

What you are experiencing is TOTALLY NORMAL, everyone and their grandmother is a "Newbie" in Real Estate right now and they just think that your a waste of thier time, the EXACT same thing happened to me when i first started out. DO NOT expect "those" people to call you back, your going to need to keep calling them, over, and over until you get the result that your looking for, just keep at it, by the way, your in an AWESOME area for REI, good luck, SULLY

First Investment

I'm closing on a fannie mae manufactured home in 7 days. I had a inspection 3 weeks ago and everything looked good. Yesterday I went in the crawl space and it had 2 inches water over 90% of floor. Its been raining with no gutters installed. I found water coming in where the deck attaches to the house, water drains back toward the house then down against the floor joist and into the middle of the crawl. It was OK at inspection. 80K on a good day for 30K deal. If I back out I lose 1000 dep and apx $600 in fees. This defect has been there all along just unnoticed.

Q - Has anyone sucessfully gone back to seller (Fannie Mae) after signing contract and had addendum to reduce purchase price due to new information? This would help me sleep better (remember sleep).

thanks sully for giving me those details and my county does have a website but i think i would rather go and talk to the county myself. But the only problem is that i'm not sure what i would say to them about what i am trying to do with the properties exactly. i know the main idea of what i am trying to accomplish (BARM gives great examples) but since i am only 19 yrs old i think that they won't take me as serious as a savvy investor. so do u have any suggestions about what i should say to them?

i love real estate
natalia

MY 2 FRIENDS AND I ARE STARTING A TEAM THAT DEALS WITH REAL ESTATE INVESTING. WE ARE GOING TO INCORPORATE OUR NAME AND START IN JANUARY. WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR OTHER THAN KNOWNLEDGE OF THE MARKET, STARTING OUT? THANKS

whats the name of the form that i would need to have the seller sign.

I am in the home buying process. I am a first time home buyer. At the same time, I am also an agressive entrepreneur and last evening came across Dean's TV program concerning foreclosure and his book. I am (at this exact moment) listening to the January 22, 2008 recording concerning Buying and Profiting from Bank Owned Foreclosures (REO's). I have an EXCELLENT credit score and have been pre-approved for a mortgage, however, I do not have a large savings, in fact, it is quite low ($4000), to be used as down payments.
My question is, how can I successfully purchase a 2 Family home (I will live in 1 unit) that is in foreclosure? I may be interested in a single family, however, I am looking at it as an investment property. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Josh

I don't get it. How do you get financing? I have talked to banks,credit unions and mortgage officers, and no one is willing to loan me money. Since the value of my house has gone down, I have little to no equity to borrow against. Even if I could get a loan, everyone is telling me that they want 20% to 30% down and will only loan out 70 to 80% of the homes value. There are several great properties in my area that were in the process of being renovated. I would love to lay my hands on one of these, if not several, but would need a loan for more than the asking price in order to finish them. I already have people interested in renting them if I can close on them. What should I do?

Well I hope that you're right because at the moment everything seems to point in the wrong direction that I'm striving for. Would you recommend to start out with a lease option contract or a purchase/sale agreement because at the moment I think these would be my best options to get me started, what did you start out with? Also, thanks for the positive feedback, I really do appreciate it.

I'm sure this question has been asked a million times before, but here goes. I live in Mass., have really bad credit, and very little to no money. My state is really high priced, even in this bad market. Will Dean's new book be able to help someone like me? I was going to order it first thing when I get paid this week. I'm usually very leary of infomercials, but reading some of the posts here made me feel pretty confident about Dean. Any help is appreciated. And don't hesitate to be brutally honest. If my situation is hopeless, let me know. Thanks
Steve

Hello Steve

Go ahead and order the book, when I first saw Dean on the informercial, I was not sure if I should order his book because I had waste so much money in the past, investing in real estate seminars etc. But I can tell you this much, since I ordered his book for such a low price, he has given me more information than any other book, or MLM I have invested in, also he is right to the point, he does not bead around the bush, making you read stuff you are not interested in. It is a great investment for first time people like myself, and out of all the money I have spent on junk, I now owned a home, even though I have an BK on my record, no one else would help me, Dean encourage me to go out and do it, he also do live calls you can listen in on and here success stories. The people you see here on this web site, typing are real, and we all help one another, your situation is not hopeless, I am a living witness to Dean book. If you beleive in yourself you can do it. Oh! I forgot to tell you something, when you do find your first deal and close escrow let us know so we can root for you to continue on the second, third,.....we will be here on this site waiting and do not ever feel like you are a bother.
Gina

I will definately give it a try. Didn't mean to come off as so cynical, but you see all these "gurus" out there and you know some of them are phonies. It just seems so hard to imagine investing in RE with no money. That comes from a lifetime of hearing "it takes money to make money". I can't wait to recieve Dean's book so I can be his next success story. Thanks again.
Steve

I am only 16 years of age, but i am a very diligent person. Anything that i set my mind on, i do it. when i saw the ad for deans book i knew that this was something i could do. I was wondering if there were any age restrictions on real estate, and if there would be any way to go around these, like having my mothers name on everything, or what.... can anyone help me out?