Louisa's Journal - The Sky is the Limit!!!

Time I see this journal at the top of the list of journals, I pop on to see if you have posted. But alas it is just the rest of us keeping your journal from falling into the journal abyss. Hope things read baby are going well for you. Miss your posts.

I have missed you all dearly!!

Richie, Cathy B and Laura ----thank you for your messages! I have intended to get a post and email off more quickly than this. And my apologies that I have not personally gotten back to you all sooner as you have written.

Thank you also to all of the rest of you who have posted and commented in the past month or so...I got a little behind due to some circumstances during the end of my pregnancy.

But all is well! He was a little over one week late, and while it was unexpected, we had to do a c-section due to his heart rate dropping too low during contractions.

Zachary James Clary was born on July 30 at 12:28am
6 lbs. 10 oz.
18 1/2 inches long

He is healthy and growing now (7 pounds this week, yay!) At first he was losing weight...long after the hospital, but 5 pediatrician appointments later, now he is back on track, so we are thrilled. Needless to say, due to lack of sleep and some of his losing weight, my only "business plan" lately has been little Zachary, and in my off time, recovering from some post-surgery complications, and getting whatever sleep that I can get. It has been a rough recovery road, but it can only go up from here and I am finally feeling that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and I will be "back" in full force as soon as I can be for sure!

I was hoping to post a picture to my journal, but I will go to my profile page and see what I can post there, if anything.

Shoot me a PM with your email, and I'll send you a picture for sure

I look forward to going through these messages posted here, and responding to them. Anyone who has moved to the Nashville area lately and contacted me lately...I would love to meet up....just give me a few weeks.

REAL ESTATE - Deal #4
I did close a deal with Randy this past week...nice I did not have to go to the closing in person. It is one we had pretty much wrapped up prior to the baby coming.

So I now have a house in Clarksville,TN that has a tenant and is a lease to own with the tenant taking the majority of all the maintenance on. Randy had the deal locked up with the bank, and did a double close making a nice profit in the middle for him, and giving me a great deal where my IRA could make a much greater return on investment than in the market through the self-directed IRA for this property purchase. It has taken some time to get set up correctly through an LLC etc...but has been a great experience. I need to get all the specs out to walk through the deal here sometime. I'm still asking questions and learning on this one!

Ah.....I look back on this year, and know that I have so many more goals to attain....getting to 5 by the end of September is one, and I can't wait until I'm actually getting 4 hours of sleep a night, because I think it will help my REI for sure!

Going to try to post a pic or two on my profile page.

Thanks to all of you for your patience with me. I can't wait to be up and running again and to follow all the success here. Dean's messages lately have been awesome!

Cheers!
Louisa

On Zachary and deal number 4. When he hits 8lbs or so he will sleep ALOT longer in the night. I was lucky my youngest was 8lb 3oz when born so he slept 4-5hrs after midnight feeding.

Cant wait to see pics am going to your profile page now. Say congrats to your hubby.

CONGRATULATIONS on baby Zachary and deal number 4!! I'm happy for you. You surely have been missed around here my friend.

Lea

Congratulations MOM& DAD woo hoo!!!! I am glad to hear you are all doing well, definately send me a picture. Tell Jamie I said congrats.
And congrats on your last deal with Randy. I remember you setting out to do the IRA thing when you went home and you went full out and did it. good for you.
Talk to ya soon Luisa.

Richie

p.s. check your pm box

how exciting!! a baby and a deal. can't do any better than that!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! Well, at least now I will sleep better knowing all is well with you haha! How amazing you post a baby and a deal Awesome doing it with Randy - he's da man haha. Concentrate on yourself, hubby and baby for sure my friend. Heal, rest and dont push yourself too hard. As far as sleep...well, I'm still catching up on the lack of it from my boys - and they are 23 and 24 lol!!
Will send my email in pm...def want to see a pic of the new family...much love to you!

CONGRATULATION TO YOU AND HUSBAND !!! on the new little one "zachary" and deal # 4 !!!! great to hear everything is fine with you !! get some rest !!
jay

Cathy - Oh, thank you (light at the end of the tunnel)...I'm guessing he will be 8 lbs by middle of this next week, so that is great to know about the sleep!! Maybe we are just a mere few days from it actually happening!? So great to hear from you. I let Jamie know too! Thank you! Sent you a PM.

Lea - I so appreciate it, and thank you again for your emails!!! Smiles to my day. Oh, how I have missed being here and missed hearing the adventures of Lea and Denny. Thank you for your sweet words.

Richie - Yay! Finally got those emails off to you just now Thanks for the note...I passed it along to Jamie too. We so appreciate it! You are rocking the REI world these days...glad to hear it and see you on the Home page here!

Linda - Thank you my friend! I appreciate you stopping by. Look forward to seeing what you have going on these days when I catch my breath here...you are always so encouraging and supporting in stopping by. Cheers!

Laura - Just sent that email off...thank you!! Thank you for thinking of us Have missed YOU my dear friend Yes, I imagine I will be lacking sleep for awhile now...ha! Thanks for all of your encouragement! Good to be in touch again.

Jay - You're probably on Deal 15 by now.... Can't wait to see what you are up to! And hope that cruise planning is coming along for you! Thanks so much for the congrats! So appreciate it!!

Congratulations to you, Louisa. I agree with all a deal and a new baby boy. It doesn't get any better than that. Zachary shares that special day with 3 of my family (3 generations too), my dad, my niece and her new daughter, Emma. So to say the least I don't think I will forget Zachary's birthday. I feel for you because my daughter ended up a C-section because she was in distress. It's definitely rougher on the mom to recover so take it easy, real estate will be around a long time, haha. I'm so very happy for you. Knowing you deal #5 will happen for you. Take care and glad to hear you're back.

Blessings to you and your family.
Cathy L

It has been too long! I am excited to be back. This is my first time back on the site since the baby. Zachary is doing great! At 3 months, he is smiling a ton (he is seriously the happiest baby ever!), and sleeping through the night....yay! I'm starting to teach him baby sign language so we can communicate more...even if he doesn't sign back until 6 months, it will be worth it!

Back to real estate...I'm pretty nervous about "being back". I've got a good amount of time to dedicate to it now. And in the next couple of months, I'm going to have to try as many techniques from here and in Dean's book, and that were shared at The Edge....all the going to banks, making calls, posting signs...all of those "stepping out of your comfort zone" things. A few of which I've done before, but getting back in the game is a bit daunting...especially when you're not already on a roll! I'm definitely going to have to get things done, as come January, I'll need some income coming in, so my time is short. It will be a good motivation!

I owe a phone call to Randy (thank you Randy...so sorry I've been out of the loop...you always inspire me!) And I've got to catch up with my Inbox here (so sorry if you've written me locally and I've not called you yet...I'll be back to you soon!!)

Ahhhhhh!!!! And so many great friends to catch up with here and so many journals to check out. Hope all of you are doing well! I have missed you!

Game plan or at least some starting steps...I'll report by Monday...my stomach is already knotting about getting started again. But I know that is a good thing...as the "uncomfortable" is what will hopefully make me grow.

Cheers!
Louisa

Welcome back! I was just telling a DG family member (Richie) how much I miss you on this site yeterday and voilla here you are today

Very cool about teaching baby Zachary sign language!

Watch out REI world Louisa's back in town

Take care my friend.

Lea

i've been wondering about you, so i'm so glad to see you back!! my daughter had a baby girl in September and i was in Tulsa for a month to help out, then back for 2 weeks for my son's leave and got home last week. like you, it's time to buckle down and get this machine cranking! we will step out of our comfort zone together! hard to do but a real necessity. the thing is, you know you can do it because you have done it before. welcome back!!!

glad your back !! hope all is well with the family including the little one !!
was just looking at the edge pics and will send them to you if you like? their are some great pics of you and others .
welcome back !!!!!!
jay

Great to see your back on the site. Sign language is awesome to teach babies as we did it with my nephew. It's just awesome to see you on here again; I've been thinking about you alot!

Blessings,
Cathy L

...I just wanted to stop by and wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! Keep up the good work! Believe and Achieve! Your friends, - Joe and Stacey

Hello!!! Thank you all for your comments above....I have finally responded to each of you personally! Grateful for this time here.

The baby has gone down for the longest nap ever so I'm going to take advantage of it, and report a little here finally.

My real estate time is so limited with the baby...I'm able to have one full 8 hour day a week for child-care now, plus family watches him the evenings our local REI club meets, so I'm fortunate for that time. My goal is to get out there and get things done, and if I have time, report here, but unfortunately, there has been no time to journal and catch up here. I've been so RE-focused in my off time, we don't even have our Christmas tree up this year!! But I figure we'll have one up every other year, and with more deals done, I'll have more freedom with my time to do all of that for years to come, so I'm keeping it in perspective! Gotta make some short term sacrifices to get somewhere, right?!! Zachary is Baby Jesus at the church service tomorrow so we are looking forward to him being a part of the true reason for the season! Now just to keep him from being a screaming Jesus! ha!! He is a happy baby but I'm not sure he will be for an hour in "swaddling clothes"!!

Wow...where to start?

A few accomplishments and things in the works:
----Have been getting my LLC that I established last year in order. I previously had not filed it within my county (just the state) so I did that. Also purchased a book to show me exactly how to keep minutes, and all the appropriate paperwork to keep annually in case of an audit. Wow, didn't realize how complex it all is, but taking baby steps to ensure I'm covering myself. Next year, this stuff will be a breeze the second time around. Highly recommend the book published by Nolo called: Your Limited Liability Company: An Operating Manual. It includes a CD with all the necessary forms. You can get a used copy on Amazon for next to nothing (maybe $10 at most including shipping)-make sure it includes the CD...it should be listed
----Been preparing a letter to go out to all cash buyers in my area that purchased property from January through December of this past year. The letter will go out just after the New Year, so I'll be printing/stuffing envelopes over the holidays. I realized that when I paid cash for a property last year, I never got a letter from any investor telling me that they could find me deals. So I'm hopeful that this is RARE and that people will take note since it may be the only letter they receive! I'm planning to do 2 follow up mailers to those that don't respond over the next 2 months. Follow up is so important....I read somewhere that people may not register you as "for real" or consider calling you until they see you in print THREE times. So if I've ever failed to send 2 follow up mailers, I've always thought, you know, I can't take it personally....that is my own fault that I didn't send 3 mailers out! Marketing 101 for me for sure!
----Have prepared a complete personal financial binder specifically for two local banks that do rehab loans. I also prepared a glossy presentation of my last rehab before and after. I got the idea and the EXACT format and great tips from an REI education meeting a few weeks back that was incredible. Great presentation from a guy who has gone to a gazillion banks for loans since he graduated high school and has been doing it 15+ years now. I have really done a lot of work on these, and whether or not a rehab loan works out from these meetings, I have learned so much in just putting these together...figuring out what a balance sheet is, etc...I'm not a financial person, but in this business of course you have to be so I'm becoming one. My husband happens to know both loan officers and has for a long time so I'm thankful for the personal connection. Tried to go yesterday but offices closed at 4pm. Lesson learned. Go early! That was my one day a week with childcare so I'll have to go next week as I'm not sure they will take me seriously if I bring Zachary
----I'm excited about establishing a relationship with these loan officers, and getting past the "no's" to get to the "yes" and even more excited that when I ran into a "no" yesterday on the phone, that it didn't phase me a bit because he said "it can't be done" all I thought was "yes it can"....NEXT!
----Made an appointment for the new year with a CPA who is highly recommended for those in real estate per our local REI Club. Felt our current one isn't involved in real estate and not sure she "keeps up" with everything. This new one invests himself in real estate and was a presenter at one of our last REI meetings. He was awesome! From our REI club, I have found a local attorney and title company who handles double-closings (who I have now worked with twice), and now a recommended CPA....if you aren't involved in this locally, you are missing out!! Go find one. Someone mentioned to me recently "my REI Club is 2 hours away"....All I could say was....get their early and stay late and network, network, network....it is the greatest thing for any newbie or experienced investor!!! And more than worth the drive! Did I mention my assignment deal came from posting to my REI club website? The dues have more than paid for themselves!
----I have resolved I must get an agent and build the volume to 20 offers per week. I truly believe in Matt's formula and it is just a matter of getting the right agent and team in place. With limited time, I believe continually using his method along with building that cash buyer list will be most effective for me right now.
---I have an appt with an awesome real estate agent next week. He is pulling some listings per our conversation in advance of our meeting. (Matt's tips on his Empowering Conversation DVD are awesome on a few ways to have your agent play with the MLS for finding the best properties to make offers on) You never know but I have a good feeling about this. We will see how it plays out.
----Self-directed IRA ----the Clarksville property is doing great. Tenants who signed a lease purchase for the long run, are great. They will be finishing hardwood floors in the kitchen (paid for by them). I have two contacts that do non-recourse loans to your IRA. I'm going to call to meet with them the first of the year just to establish a relationship. My goal long term would be for me to present that property (which I purchased with my IRA, well under value) as a property to take a "non-recourse loan"...type of mortgage, so I could pull my money out of the property (not personally of course, but within my IRA) and then use that IRA money for ANOTHER retirement purchase. Just like Rina does with properties on a regular basis, except in this instance, it would be all within my self-directed IRA. I would wait to actually present that property to those contacts because I would want the appraisal to come back as high as possible, and I think it will come back higher once the hardwoods are put in. So I think by spring, I could have an additional meeting and present the cashflowing property for their review. Wow, if that works, I'll be thrilled. Who knew you could have a mortgage through your self directed IRA and pull it out the same way to continue to build your retirement??!!!!!! Can't wait to see how this plays out!

Thanks for reading. Merry Christmas to all!!!!!

p.s. we would all be better off with three arms....I'm feeding a bottle with one hand and typing with the other hand....ha! My apologies for typos or incomplete thoughts! This has taken a long time! It makes me realize, everyone has their time challenges whether it is a day job, or family, or lack of money to pursue earnest money or the marketing for this business (although there are ways around that of course!). My challenge will be to "get it done" with a baby. I truly believe God doesn't give you more than you can handle, and I believe the timing is always right. So rather than see a baby as an obstacle to real estate, I'm just seeing it as an obstacle I will knock down (well, not literally...I love him of course!). So that next time a new mom says "I don't have time"....I'll be able to say "I've done 20 deals with a baby and still counting and I spend a lot of time with my child! You can do it!!" I may be in slow motion, but I'm grateful to still be in motion!

i met a family of rehabbers here. the parents do the work and haul their 3 little kids everywhere they go. they know about tenants and tenants who don't pay. i also knew a family in OK who did the same thing. those kids will grow up with all that investing knowledge and have a much better start than most of us. you can do it!!!

Wow...I'm impressed...I need to learn more, but I pretty much do not do any of the rehab work (I know I could save some money if I did....I pretty much stick to buying plants, curb appeal and pulling weeds for open houses Awesome that they do the work and their kids are there! Sweet! Their kids could probably teach me a thing or two!!

You might feel that you are moving slow right now as far as REI goes but you are in the REI world and something tells me you are moving a lot quicker than you think you are. Thanks for the update on your progress. You are getting a lot accompllished!! I love what you are doing.

How absolutely adorable that Zachary is gong to be playing baby Jesus. What a debut!!

Merry Christmas to you, Jamie and Zachary and wishing you a happy, healthy, prosperous new year filled with lots of love, joy and laughter throughout the year.

Lea

Well hello stranger Great hearing from you. I hope all is well with you guys and little Zack. listen, I didnt forget to send the gift. I need a size for him. send it to my e-mail at home or pm me please. I DIDNT WANT TO BOTHER YOU BY CALLING.
Happy holidays to you and your Family

Richie

Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Years!

Karen

Hello to you. What a great post. I don't think you're moving slowly at all. Look at what you've done and you have an action plan with appointments scheduled so you are doing amazing!

That is great that Zachary is baby Jesus and how adorable he is for the part! Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to post!

Merry Christmas to you, Jaime, and little Zachary!

Cathy L

AHHHH!!! I just wrote a whole long entry responding to everyone above and then my story about today, and it all erased (because I type too fast and hit something accidentally that erased it all in a second)

Thank you all for your well-wishes above. I'm out of time now, but will respond later individually!

Bottom line ---I'm excited I met my rock star agent this morning and I can't wait for us to get started. We met for one hour.
---he started in 2007 after market crashed and knocked on doors for contracts
---sold 60 houses his second year in business
---2009 --listed as a top producer (agent) for all of Tennessee (this is how I found him)
---works with investors
---not afraid to get creative...finds the 20:1 concept interesting, and wants to get started. not afraid of low offers.
---his office is just around the corner from where I live
---great vibe...great synergy...comes across very transparent and straight-forward...like his style.

He's gathering a list of cash buyers in the 5 zip codes I asked for for 2010...I'm working on the criteria. Making sure I'm not missing anyone and adding to my list.

Today: Putting mailing together for cash buyers. I have a few and need to build my list for the area where I live, and get more for Nashville.Hoping to have my letter stuffed and stamped and out the door by end of day tomorrow.

Another rehab: Agent is working on finding another rehab with my criteria also.

REO Property Offer:
I did put an offer on an REO property yesterday (and was upfront with the agent about it ---it is through another agent), but I don't know that I will get it. If it does get accepted, I will work it as a double-close and pass off to one of my cash buyers in Nashville. Nervous about that (just since I haven't done it yet), which is why I'm working to bulk up my cash buyer list too (for this and other deals of course), but I want to be solid on it, hence the urgency.

Proof of Funds ---Yesterday, I had a transactional funding company I was going to use, but I didn't like how their letter was phrased "loan amount"...it didn't make it look like a "cash offer" and I thought it would be questionable to a bank. So I found another transactional funding company I thought I would use, and was having trouble with their "proof of funds" form in terms of getting it to work so they would send me one. So I called them. They said they took their form down because "banks were no longer accepting those types of forms" ----interesting, and they recommended me to get a "soft money" proof of funds letter....but said some companies were charging for this, and then to come back to them for their transactional funding. Well, personally if I'm going to use a proof of funds letter from a company, I'm going to use that company for transactional funding, period. So I did find a much better phrased "soft money" proof of funds, and didn't have to pay for it. The interesting part to me was that banks may no longer be accepting some types of proof of funds letters. If it does go well with this company, if I get this offer, I will indeed share my source!

Gotta run!
Cheers!
Louisa

Dean comes to Nashville tonight!! YAY!! (Or at least his team is, not sure if he will actually be there himself, but hoping he will).

Randy will be there and is speaking...I just talked to him.

YAY!

This is a great day!!
Louisa

I had a great appointment with a local bank the other day. Wow! It couldn't have gone better. This was a huge feat...I've been so scared of this. And so I am kicking myself "why didn't I do this sooner?!" The loan officer is putting a program together by Monday for a rehab loan for me. But between all of those here who talk about "local banks" and how to approach them,the Edge this past year, and the local REI club's guidance on your specific presentation...everything I presented was very well-received.

I'm also off to one more local bank today to meet.

YAY!
Louisa

Wow, you are setting up 2011 to be a great year. My apologies that I didn't get the thing sent like I said I would last week. It is sitting here looking at me. I'm on it though haven't forgotten. I took your advice and talked to academy Diane told me selling to bro in law should count. YAY! So 5 deals done am getting my paperwork together to send to them. Are you going to see Randy tonight? Say hi from Minnesota, and let us know how it went.

Happy New Year.

Cathyb

Congratulations on a great start in 2011. That would be so cool to see randy there! Keep the momentum going your on a roll.
Jay

I've just started reading your journal recently.

Since you started it quite a long time ago, I didn't start at the beginning due to time. It is so informative that I am going to have to go back and start over and read it all. I'm looking forward to it.

Thanks,
Karen

Last night was great! Wanted to respond first to you guys...

LEA ---thanks for your holiday wishes, dear friend! The whole Baby Jesus thing went off without a hitch. I think he was so amazed with all the people staring at him, he forgot he was uncomfortable in the swaddling clothes...ha!

RICHIE ---you are too sweet...you got my PMs...love you Edge Buddy!

KAREN ----thanks for your comments so far, and thank you for reading my journal. I know how much time that takes! And I hope it is helpful in some way to you. I'm still learning all the time, and just like everyone else, still pressed to the wall as I don't have enough cashflow coming in monthly (you know the money you make while you sleep), so I've gotta keep at it for sure!!!! Glad you are here!

CATHY L ---Thanks for all your encouragement and great words...appreciate it so much!!!

CATHY B ----WHOO HOO!!!! 5 Deals!! I got your post right before I walked in last night, and I told Randy you made your 5 deals. Thrilled for you!! YAY! Oh, no worries on the sending!! It will make my New Year when I get it, and I know there is a lot going on during the holidays and your kids are probably all home!!! It will arrive at the right time for me, I just know it! Thank you so very much!

JAY ---Awesome! Thanks for the post and encouragement. You are always a bright light here to me, and very inspiring!!!

LAST NIGHT
It was an "Insider's Edge" conference ----if you click it in the search bar you'll see a couple comments of these happenings throughout the country. Dean did a video intro followed by a very successful investor that Dean partners with on deals named Tim. You know, Tim's talk could be summed up (in a good way) by the following amazing book:

----T.Harv Eker ---Secrets of the Millionaire Mind (RUN, don't walk to go get this book if you haven't read it!!)

As Dean always says, the biggest obstacle is ourselves. So most who showed up last night were in that phase of "I can't do it" "I don't have any money" "My family has never had money, and I won't have money...etc...etc...and Tim was there to break down those barriers and show people the "broke" psychology that has been passed down for generations unknowingly. Because until you start breaking down the "broke" psychology that goes on in our heads and plays out in our actions, then you can't really be successful at anything, much less real estate. The whole Henry Ford saying "Whatever you believe you can or you can't, you are right"...I saw a lot of that last night.

I read T. Harv Eker's book a few years before doing anything with real estate, and it really rings true. Last night's talk inspires me to go get it out again. It is brilliant, and sometimes when you get down on your possibilities or you start the "broke" psychology up again in your head because it is possibly what was or is still modeled by your parents, your family, and your friends around you...it is always great to pull out the T. Harv Eker book to remind yourself of where your head is at, and where you could be if you can get your mind right again.

Randy spoke last night....and his story always inspires me. It was nice to connect, and be in the company of a couple of presenters who have their head right (for lack of a more eloquent phrase). They were awesome.

And it was also exciting to see a room full of people who have the choice to start their lives on this RE journey, if they will take the opportunity, seize the moment, and believe in themselves.

A great night!

YESTERDAY
I'm getting through my cash buyer lists for 5 zip codes, and looking up any LLC's on the Secretary of State website, to actually see the registered member so I can address these letters properly. I'm noticing a few people I know in our local REI group that buy regularly. It is great to see who is buying what and at what price, and actually continually amazes me at what kind of deals they are getting and reminds me of what Joe always says "If you're not at least a little embarrassed about your offer, it must not be low enough."

Today, I'll print out my letters and begin getting them out the door!

So much to do, so little time!

Oh yeah, and I'm still supposed to visit that other bank...this mailing has been taking a while!

More soon!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!! BE SAFE TONIGHT!
Cheers!
Louisa