Work Smarter- and Harder!

I have just flipped a couple for around 30k profit total. So now i am addicted. I'm also looking for new ways to find sellers. I have just ordered 100 blank white bandit signs and some red sharpies. So i will be putting some signs around soon. I have MLS access because my wife is a realtor so im going to be looking for expired listings, price drops, and 90 days plus. I'm also driving for dollars and sending yellow letters to houses that look banged up or over grown lawns and such. I haven't done it yet but was thinking of going door knocking for some of theses banged up houses. I'm just like you though i need to find more deals and make more money for my family. To give my wife and i the freedom we deserve. Talk to you soon.

Congrats! That is really awesome, and should give you some good momentum. Momentum is such an undervalued asset in REI, or any business for that matter. I did spend several hours last week with a local realtor looking at 'deals'. All but one really weren't deals when we dug into the numbers, but I definitely had a better feel for several of my local areas, which was great. One deal I am still looking at, and if I can pick it up for maybe $40k or so, can be wholesaled to an area landlord. I have a decent buyer for a lease option house that a new local investor is working on (and I am helping her learn)although his credit came in low, so the idea of possibly just selling the house retail was out the door. If he can come up with the $10k he says he can, we can lease option it to him. Some profit there, $5k or so after catching seller's payments up, and monthly cash flow of $200. I am strongly considering getting a good lease option program going, along with contracting groups of discounted sfh's to wholesale out. Working on some bank contacts for that, along with solid buyers. Who wants to do just a deal here or there, when it can be a machine??? Best to you, let me know how it goes with your marketing and what I can do to help!

Have same lease option buyer who will be signing papers this Friday, still says he has $10k to put down. Told partner/mentee (is that a word???) to call other interested buyer to come back and push to see what he will put down. Will make follow up calls to get a few more people on board and then will wrap this one up one way or another by next week. I think new investors do not realize the push that it takes to get deals done sometimes. This business attracts people who love the 'Become a Millionaire in a Week' through guru marketing and a desperate market place, but reality is that you have to push through a lot to get things done, and then build (and keep) momentum. By the way, my resume is hilarious at this point...after you start marketing, working deals, talking to lenders, negotiating commercial deals and wrangling contractors- go back and look at yours, with this stuff added in!

Ok, so the name of the game is NETWORKING. I have been burning up the cell phone talking to local and area investors. Emailing new contacts, talking to realtors, etc. I have to say, I like this part. When I was doing some fund raising for a commercial investing company, I learned a lot about dealing with sharks. The people I have been talking to the past couple of days are nothing like that. My vision for putting SC on the real estate Map is being restored. It's a fun part of this business to meet and talk to people who are just good natured, good and sincere about what they do, eager to help and get help. Also- found out a house I was researching now has a contract on it (drats)...but am going to another house I was sent (by my awesome realtor) to estimate repairs and find out the bottom line, and meet another investor realtor who seems great. Also will meet with a lease option buyer to get the show on the road with the lease option house, and maybe squeeze in a meeting in same area with a seller who needs sub-to. All before 3pm, when my kids get off the bus with their happy little faces. My little face will be happy too, after all this! Go get 'em is my mantra, and middle name...

So...the L/O buyer got cold feet, so as I have preached to my mentee, NEVER STOP MARKETING!!! We worked numbers over the phone to see if we could work with another buyer who doesn't have a large down payment but can pay more per month. We will also, if this one works out, call the bank to see what we can do about the back payments to make sure the deal pulls a profit. This is business, after all, not a charity- yet. Also, spoke to a local investor who is doing great with HUD properties and is very experienced. Have 3 of his deals I can sell, 1 needs zero rehab. Don't find those often, although because of lag time on the market, I think the investor who buys it needs to be all-cash and list it with a huge commission with an agent so they will be aggressive. It's not like this market lacks inventory, so the house that sells is the most upgraded for the least money, usually. May work also with an investor I just came across who needs lots of property for a hedge fund, although I always have to check those out pretty well before wasting any time on them;) Gave a newer investor several deals and spent time digging them up for her, and never heard back. Totally rude, and totally normal. DO NOT DO THAT. I will still be generous, but not in that way!