Captain777's Daily Journal

Congratulations on starting you journal. It is a great way to reflect on your progress and also set a path for tracking your action plan for the future. Each day you can move a little closer to your goals and dreams. When gaols are written down there is a much greater possibility they will be achieved. Each day write down your To-Do's and try to setup a priority system and take action even if it is only a few items each day.

Dean's books and programs are backed with execellent tips, strategies and information. Try to determine what type of strategies will work best for you and your local target area. The great thing about Central Florida is there are so many different communities and price ranges of properties all within a one hour drive of each other. Osceola County and Orange County alone have so many different communities in all price ranges from Lake Mary, Altamonte Springs, Kissimmee, St. Cloud, Davenport, Clermont, and Winter Park to name a few. There are so many second homes in these areas that have motivated sellers that may even be facing foreclosure or people have just walked away from the property.

I know there were condos selling 2 to 3 years ago in some areas of Osceola selling for around $200k that are now selling around $50k. Homes in this area were around $350k and are now they are selling around $100k. I believe there is a huge amount of inventory in this area and a huge opportunity as well. One of the key is to try to perfect your action plan and your niche for your local area. As you move forward you may not do everything as perfectly as you may hope, but it can me a learning experience as you move forward. You can do it! Good luck with real estate investing in sunny Central Florida! Believe and Achieve! - Joe

Thank you for sharing your journal. Don't feel too bad about 'losing the money for bootcamp' it taught you about what you don't want to do and now you are on your way to becoming successful in REI.

We are in SE FL and are enjoying the cooler temperature since yesterday. We turned off the a/c and had the windows open too Today will be another cool one.

I can't wait to hear more about the offer you just put in. I'm keeping good thoughts for you and am looking forward to hearing more about this deal.

I wish you much success in REI.

Lea
SPR Property Solutions, LLC

Dear Joe,

Thank you for your encouragement. You are always there to offer help and advice. I appreciate how you are thinking of others continually. I hope (as you told me earlier) to see you at the Edge 2010 so I can see you face to face and shake your hand. Winter Haven is west of Orange and Osceola counties and the potential here is about the same and also very plentiful. For the time being I intend to stay south of I4 and mostly west of US 27. Polk county was growing so fast until 2008 that there are many empty brand new houses and many developments with only the infrastructure and not houses not to mention the numerous REO's etc.. I am surprised that you had the time to read my journal this morning knowing you have that long drive to Chicago. Thank you again.

Tim

Dear Lea,

Thank you again for your encouragement. I hope you saw my reply in Rina's journal for your prayers for Corrie. I wish you all the success too. Maybe we can continue to encourage and help each other with our REI ventures. Thanks.

Tim

Yes, I saw your reply, thank you. Absolutely! I think it's important that we encourage and help each other.

Winterhaven & Lakeland are Denny's old stomping grounds. He lived in Winterhaven for a couple years & Lakeland for 12. I used to have family living in Winterhaven way back when. While visiting relatives in Winterhaven I met Denny in the Winterhaven mall.

Take care,

Lea
SPR Property Solutions, LLC

Glad to hear you will be attending the EDGE 2010 and I look forward to meeting you. The EDGE 2009 changed our lives and we have Dean to thank for all the great information he shares in his books, programs and events. We really enjoy central Florida and I had a former job where I had to travel their very often. We became very familiar with the greater Central Florida area, often shopping at Publix grocery stores and the ocassional shopping trip to the former Belz Outlet Mall on I-Drive. The area has really grown during the past 10 years.

Sometimes I get up a little early about 4:30 to 5:00 AM to start my day with catching up on some information and insight on the DG website. It is great you started your journal because it is a great way to share knowledge and insight with othes. Each day I want to learn a little more about real estate. Have a great weekend. Believe and Achieve! - Joe

Dear Lea,

It is very interesting that you have been here and that Denny even lived here. The mall has been demolished and they put in a Maceys and Belks. There is a large parking lot between them and a new Lowes store. Most of the orange groves are gone so that we rarely smell the orange blossoms in January and February and we used to when we first moved here. Thus there are a lot of new homes and with the recent market plunge, lots of homes to work with in this business. If you ever get back up this way, let me know. I would be very pleased to meet for coffee or whatever to discuss our progress and experiences in REI.

Tim

I wouldn't want to miss Edge 2010 for anything. It sounds like you were traveling to Orlando or surrounding cities. I live just west of Orlando (30 minutes to Disney) and with situations as they are I have not been to Orlando in 5 years. When my REI grows, I expect to be able to get around a lot more.

My offer for $90K was refused so I immediately bid $95K and I expect them to accept that offer on Monday. I learned that another REI bid $80K and a private home owner offered $93K. The statement from HUD is that they will accept the highest offer at any one time (?). My RE agent says she expects this offer to be accepted. The $93K was offered over a month ago. We figure they will want to dump the property to avoid any more expenses. I am praying this transaction comes to fruition because that will take all of the heat off of my predicament.

Quite often I cannot sleep all night and I end up investigating properties for potential and planning my next day. It seems all of the activities and paper work is almost a full time job. Most of that is not real estate related.

I used to have a job at 111 Orange Avenue in downtown Orlando and the 1 hour drive was a drudgery. I sure don't envy your 2 hour drive each way each day. You must be a very patient man. May God bless you.

Tim

It is Saturday and I have prospecting planned today along with several chores (like mowing the yard). I have a long list from my RE agent to look over and choose the most interesting to drive by or even tour. The weather here in Central Florida is perfect. Sunny, cool, breezy and low humidity. This should be a very productive day.

On the way back from that $90K property last Tuesday, I noticed a property where the house looked vacant and the yard had not been mowed for sometime. I knocked on the door and no one answered. The home looked occupied but strangely empty. I investigated the property on the appraiser's website and found it is owned by a lady that is 73. I called her number and it had already been disconnected. I asked my RE agent to find what she can asap so I can proceed further on this potential deal. I am going to try to find her relatives if they reside in this general area also.

I have just finished reading Indiana Joe's journal and I am now ready to go.

Tim

Yes, if I'm ever up your way I'll 'warn' you ahead of time LOL It would be nice to meet up with each other. If you ever get down to the Treasure Coast let us know and we could meet you in our neck of the woods.

I'm eager to learn about the vacant property you have found. 411.com may be helpful in tracking down the owner and/or her family.

Take care,

Lea
SPR Property Solutions, LLC

Thank you for the 411.com. I will try that tonight. I don't know when I will be able to get down to your neck of the woods but when I do, I will surely give you a holler ahead of time. I would like to keep up with your progress in RE. I will check out your journal often.

Tim

Too many projects at home and only a little time to investigate some of the leads from my RE agent. I am anxiously awaiting the news on Monday morning to find if HUD accepted my offer. Fixing the front door sill and my daughter's electric race car and cleaning up her play pen to give to an expectant mother (her friend) and mowing and fixing the pool cover and on and on.

Tim

Got up early to a quick shower of rain and checked out some more leads from the RE agent. Did some other paper work and other obligations before getting to my favorite tasks doing REI.

I got a phone call from my RE agent at about 11:00AM that HUD had accepted my bid on the property in Deer Brook. I called my attorney to ensure that the contract is absolutely correct and I am protected from harm. Called 3 buyers and two are going to look at the property tomorrow. I am expecting to make a good profit from this deal. I surely need the money. I drove to Bartow to sign the contract so the RE agent could overnight it to HUD around 4:30PM today. I am hoping to close on this deal this week. Please, everyone pray that it goes down easily. Even if it doesn't, I have more buyers to call. I will make it happen one way or another. I have another property ready to bid on and I hope to make a good profit on it if it is accepted. It is an REO.

On the way back from picking up my daughter from robotics class, I checked out another REO. Apparently someone else fixed it up to sell but lost it to the bank. I hope to get it really cheap, but I cannot move on these two properties until this first one closes. I am really excited and a little anxious but I intend to push on.

Since I am on the brink, I hope these recounts of the battle help others to keep on keeping on too. I have never been so busy while unemployed before in my life. This is all great fun. My daughter is one of my biggest fans. When I told her that HUD accepted, she became so excited and was cheering me on. Thank you God for my daughter. She is such and inspiration to keep on making it happen.

Tim

Welcome to the family. I live in SW Orlando. Studying my area,too. Haven't made my 1st deal yet, but it's coming. I want 2 make sure I have all my "ducks" in a row.
Again, welcome to the family, Captain!

God bless,
Serena

Congratulations on the Deerbrook property! Tim that is great news - yippee! I can't wait to hear more as this progresses. I'm keeping good thoughts for you and will say a prayer for you.

It's interesting hearing you talk about your area and mentioning towns I remember from yester-year.

Lea
SPR Property Solutions, LLC

I just got a chance to read through your journal and it is amazing what you have done. Congrats on your offer being accepted! I think that it is really inspiring what you are doing to make a better life for you and your daughter. Keep up the great work and you will have to keep us informed on what happens with the little old ladies house. I will keep cheering for you!

Jen

Congratulations on the HUD property in Deer Brook. It is always great to close a deal and the information and knowledge you learn is worth just as much as the profit you may realize from the deal. Keep up the good work! Action gets results and it sounds like things are being to move for you. Way to go! Believe and Achieve! - Joe

Congratulations on getting your offer accepted. You took action and it is paying off. Keep us updated on your progress and future deals.

Bruce

Just caught up on your journal. Sounds like you have been very busy, and very productive! Congratulations on the accepted offer, and having the buyers ready! Hope closing is smooth sailing and you'll have that seed money to jump on some more. And your daughter sounds like a true gem! you can't get a better cheerleader than that!

I have an Aunt and Uncle in Ocala, well actually Anthony. Is that far from you? I was going to suggest, if you are not a member of a local REI Club yet, at ours in Minneapolis last month the speaker was a member of the REIA in Ocala, (nationally-known for her rehabbing). If you get a chance, you might want to check that one out. Might be some fantastic connections there, too.

I look forward to following your REI journey, and admire greatly your resolve and the great heart you have for your family. You deserve all the best!

Sincerely,
Rina

This past week has been a real learning experience. I called 6 buyers and was greeted with total skepticism. All of them encouraged me to go after this property and said they would be interested but everyone of them backed out and told me it wouldn't "fly". Then I called my mentor from 2004. He now lives in Louisiana. Back in 2004 he helped me flip a property and took half the profit for his efforts. He told me that I shouldn't waste my time with this property and the only way I would get a chance at a good buy would be to get it under contract before it became public. He presented a near impossible scenario. I need to remember Isaiah 41:10 and act on that fact.

Needless to say, this was a really bad Tuesday and I tended to other business for two days to recover my positive attitude and move ahead. I called another investor who in the past has been nearly impossible to get on the phone and that is the only way to contact him. When I called, he answered on the 3rd ring. WOW!!! He gave me some really good pointers and encouragement on selling this property. He told me about two other sites to advertise on as well as Craig's List. I am going to post an ad in BackPage.com and KiJiJi.com tomorrow. Everyone should check out these sites if you don't already.

Thursday I toured two neighborhoods and looked at some houses the real estate agent had sent to me. I found a house that has been abandoned for more than a year and is in terrible disarray. I looked it up on the county clerks site and it is in Lis Pendens. I am going to contact the couple that owns it and see if I can buy it from them. I found some properties that have real potential if I can get them.

Friday I spent the day in Clearwater at a Crash & Burn Seminar to get 2 more CE credits. Rimkus put on the event and fed us a Continental breakfast and a nice lunch when we were done. They set off 6 collision bags and 3 seat belt tensioners and crashed 3 cars together and burned another one. Quite a day.

Saturday I caught up on all my household chores and mowed the lawn. Now I am ready to hit it on Sunday.

Sunday nite I am composing the ads to post tomorrow morning. I will ad more later today. I want to thank Rina, Indiana Joe, jennahouse21, Lea, and Bruce for all your encouragement and suggestions. You are the family I don't have here in Florida and you are the ones that help me stay positive and willing to keep going. You are helping me on my way to success in REI. I will be sure to keep everyone updated tomorrow with what happens.

I still haven't gotten the paperwork back from HUD and the RE agent tells me this is normal. The gov't doesn't move very fast. I am going to arrange an inspection this week and get the utilities turned on temporarily for that procedure. The RE agent is arranging this so I do not have to put up a deposit ($180) and since it will only be on for 72 hours they may not even charge for the minimal usage to do the testing. The inspection will cost $250 rather than $300 thanks to the RE agent.

Nearly every day the RE agent is sending updates on the properties on my hot list for price drops. My intended offers are looking better all the time. As soon as this property sells, I intend to put in offers on about 20 houses. My goal is to flip or whatever 5 or 6 properties before January 1.

Thanks for the great websits! I am checking them out now and I will use these as well as craigslist. Keep up the great work!

Wow, your last post was so full of ups and downs. (Glad to see you came out on the "UP". )
Just goes to show how interesting this life of REI can be!
Will be crossing my fingers for your prop to sell, to get you feeling in the game big-time again. But I'm glad to see you're not waiting idly! There are so many strategies, one never has to "wait" on another.
Sounds like you had an interesting day on Friday. Can't say I've ever gotten to watch cars being demolished and burned before, at least not intentionally. lol (well, maybe on a small scale at the demolition derbies)

Hope your family is well, and you are enjoying your REI endeavors.
God bless you, my friend!

Rina

Just spent some time catching up on your journal! You sure have the determination it takes to succeed. And I will tell you that this site was the only support I had in starting out as well. So come often and keep believing in your goals and dreams! RE is full of ups and downs, and as you continue it gets easier to just let the missed deals go and say "NEXT" Its only through perserverance that we succeed and move on to the next level. Keep up the good work!

Thank you for the encouragement. It makes me feel special that you, Laura, and Joe and several others take the time to read my journal. I have been reading yours also and read where you said had grown over time and are glad you have moved on from those early days. I am going outside in about an hour to watch the shuttle launch. It is one of the spiffs for living in central Florida.

Hope your week is very successful and I am glad you are keeping on.

Tim

I want to thank you for your encouragement and suggestions. I have been reading your journal too and have enjoyed reading about your successes. I watched the interview you had with Dean several times. You were great. I should say you ARE great and I am sure you will be movin on up!

I am glad you are over the flu and feeling much better. I can always count on you for caring and encouraging me in my endeavor to build my RE business. Here's to you and your success also. I try to keep up with your journal and Rina's and Joe's too.

Have a very productive week.

Tim

I am glad you can use them. I didn't know about them either until last week. I was excited to view them and couldn't wait to share them with the DG family. I sure hope they are helpful to you.

Tim

You are working diligently and are determined to get things done, you will be successful in REI.

Sounds like your RE agent is very helpful and a good person to have on your team. Saving you money and explaining that it is normal to wait on HUD. Seems often in REI things are hurry up .. wait .. hurry up ..wait. Sometimes I feel like I'm in a car driving fast and have to keep slamming on the breaks - LOL

As always I wish you the best in REI and all that you do.

Lea
SPR Property Solutions, LLC

I am amazed at all of the activity and the caring and encouraging going on at this website. All of us having our journals is wonderful. Lea, I hope you make millions very soon. It is inspiring to keep track of your journal. We all seem to have our ups and downs, but because of this website, we find the gumption to move on and upward.

Praise God!!!

Tim

Well, yesterday I got my daughter off to school on the bus and realized I had a 9:30 appointment at the VA in Tampa. I scurried off to Tampa for the 3 appointments (Agent Orange Registry) and didn't return until 5:30 and therefore no REI time today other than to keep up with the journals of you DG members. This morning I got caught up on returning phone calls etc. and now I am going to check with the RE agent to see if we have heard back from HUD yet. I made a quick stop by the property on the way back from my Monday appointment with the VA in Lakeland. I want to get some better pictures of the property for my ads and I will see if the RE agent can let me in today. She has a special key for all HUD properties in the general area.

I will add more to this post this evening to let you all know what was accomplished this afternoon.

Tim

Hey, Tim, I just went through your journal to catch up on things. I am sorry for the loss of your wife.
I am praying for you to sell that home so you can catch up on your home and take that wonderful daughter to the next level with you. I have an 11 yr old daughter who is my shadow lol but i wouldnt trade it for the world. I may be able to send you info on another property in Deltona if your interested. I have all the inside info on it as it was owned by my neighbors son who moved back to NY. The only person i offered the info to was Rina,but it is not where she was looking to buy. I think it would be a good sale if its not gone yet. I really haven't kept up with him on it. anyway, pm me if your interested and i will give you all the info and contacts. I offered it to someone for a BDog fee but never heard from them again. I don't know the area but i know he paid 200k for it in 05.It is currently rented.If you do go for it and sell it, all i want is for you to donate 500.00 to a charity in my name.
Best of luck
Richie.