Chris's - Rhode Island Real Estate Journal

Hi Chris,

I clicked on your link after reading Sport's Blog - you are such an inspiration. We will be following you both as we embark on our journey. Love all of the action steps you have been taking. Just know that we are reading and appreciate all that you are sharing.

Dee & Ed

Your welcome Dee & Ed! I hope I can inspire others to follow, I am leaving a trail with crumbs! Get out there and DO IT!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Made a bunch of phone calls today, and I now have 4 serious buyers on my buyers list. The can all close within 2 weeks and they want up to 10 properties a month. I left a bunch of messages also that I still need to hear back on and I still have to call my list of home inspectors and appraisers!!

Oh, scored some prime (50 yd line, 15th row) seats for the Pats game tomorrow!!!! What a weekend!! Can it get any better?????

Wow Chris,

I don't really have much of a buyers list. Only my good looks

Keep it, your bound for success!

Sport

Thank you Sport, maybe your good looks can attract some buyers?

Thanks again for your words of encouragment!

Scored some great tickets to the Pats game today!!!! 50 yd line, 21 rows up right behind the Pats bench!!!! Plus there was a nice tail gate party before hand!!

I got two responses to my ghost ads that I need to follow up on, more potential buyers!!!

Going to work on a little dream building today, then spend some time with my family.

Oh, I got a surprise in the mail yesterday that I have no idea where it came from. Received a gift certificate for the Trinity Rep Theater in Providence. It looks like they were mailed directly from the theater and there was no name on them??? I have no idea where they came from.

Chris,

I checked out the steps that you shared about finding buyers off of the HUD website bidding history.

It seems that every state is different. I tried following the steps you outlined and once I got to the link that the state selection provided, everything was different. I backed up and went to Rhode Island and found exactly what you described. So I had to go back to Missouri and try to find a similar path, which I was able to do. In Missouri, according to what I found, one has to find bidding history on a specific property according to the HUD identifying number. Can't find just by searching cities. But one can find houses by searching cities and then picking one, getting the HUD number and finding the bidding history from that. The one that I looked up had at least 8 bidders on it. It actually sold for more than the listing price, which may be normal. So now I have to find contact information for the bidders I identified.

Anyway, I finally got there. Thanks for your help.

Rick

Your Welcome Rick!

Ughhhhh....knowing that I have work to do at home building by own business keeps me going thru the day, makes the days go faster and I can't wait to get home to do some more work!!!

Was about to head home and someone stopped by and needed something done knowing I would be out of the office the next day, so I got home MUCH later than planned....grrrrr

Well, I am on the road tomorrow, and will be spending about 6 hours driving, so I am going to put together a call list so I can make some calls while I am driving and make us of the time and make up for some of the lost time from today!!!!

My realtor sent me a few prospective properties to check out too! Yeahhhhhh

I appreciate the following, and people looking for advise, feel free to follow along. But I am learning myself also! Let me know if I helped in any way!!!

I think I will watch one of the videos from last year's EDGE that I got recently!

Have a great night all!!!

Had a long ride back & forth to Maine today and was planning on making a lot of phone calls. I left 1/2 hour early so I could have time at a rest stop to make some calls. Ended up taking calls from the office (ugggghhhh...motivation!!!) so I didn't get to make all the calls I wanted. Ended up making a few on the ride come. Spoke to two investors and left a message for another. Of the two investors I spoke to, one was a wholesaler, interested in working with me (add to buyers list), the other had no interest in great deals, apparently they had enough already (scratch from the buyers list).

The Tax Club called me today to set up a conference call to discuss setting up my business. I set an appointment for tomorrow night, then I realized I am going to my first REI Club meeting tomorrow night, so I will have to reschedule.

Completed a lesson on Marketing Overview. Lots of thing to pursue some of which I will attack now, and others I will go back to once I get my buyers list set up.

Still have my list of Home Inspectors and Appraisers to follow up on.

Have a great night everyone!

Primary focus is building the buyers list, saw another "we buy homes" sign that I will call on.

Consulting with the "Tax Club" tonight on getting my business incorporated.

I will call all the Home Inspectors & Appraisers on my list.

Saw an ad in the local paper from a local bank for Commercial Lending, they include Investment Property as one of their specialties.

OK, waiting for my consultation call, then off to make some phone calls.

Oh....by first REIA meeting is tomorrow night. Hope to meet some new investors to add to my buyers list, and maybe meet a few that I have already spoken to.

Finally got a hold of one of the "i buy homes" buyers that I see a sign for every day on my way to work. We have been playing phone tag for about a week. He was VERY helpful and offered a ton of information. We talked for a good 15 minutes or so!!!

I then called a couple of Home Inspectors. The second one I called answered the phone and he was very interested in doing business with me and had done some work with other investors. I asked for a reference for other investors so he gave me a phone number for another investor!!!! We talked for a while also!

A great day on the phone!!

I then went to my first REIA meeting. It was an interesting group, there seemed to be a lot of NEW investors there. The president of the group did a brief talk a finding your niche, he gave many different examples, it was certainly food for thought. They also had a lawyer speaking about estate planning. The talk went off to different ways of protecting assets and avoiding probate. Not so applicable to the business but good information neverless.

I meet a bunch of different people, non of who seemed to be the type of buyer I am looking for. I did meet a lot of helpful people: a hard money lender, an attorney, a realtor that lists REOs plus does auctions.

Oh, last night I have a conference call with the Tax Club, took the first steps to set up my company, paperwork should be coming soon!

Had a call from my Account Exectutive at the Tax Club. My corporation papers should be arriving soon. I have a series of meetings set up with them over the few weeks to get me on track business-wise and financially.

Went thru the Assignment Lession with the Success Academy today. This is a great way to get started! Something I will definately be doing. I have 5 names on my buyers list, I am 1/2 way there! Have a bunch of phone calls to make tomorrow!

Big snow storm coming, not sure how much we will get yet???

It's about 9:30 here and the snow is starting to fall, we are expecting up to 15"...weeeeeeeeeeeee

Ended up spending most of the day finishing up my Christmas shopping and getting prepared for the big storm.

Made a few phone calls, why is it that some of these "I buy homes" don't bother to return phone calls??? I got a lot of voice mail's today. Will continue calling on Monday. I found a couple of more REI clubs in Massachusetts, and found out when their meeting are. I will plan on attending them next month.

Went through the 2nd "Business Basics" course. Made some notes on things to follow up on.

My "Business Start-Up" guide arrived from The Tax Club today!!!

Supposed to celebrate my dad's birthday tomorrow, have to see if the roads are travelable in the morning!

WOW! We got a snow storm, total accumulation is about 16", hard to measure since it is powder and it was very windy so there is lots of drifting. It looks like it will stick around thru Christmas.

Planning on spending some time looking into property in New Hampshire. One of my dreams is to build a house there. So I want to get a feeling for property and keep an eye on it, may a bargain will crop up? Or better yet I can find a Dean deal and buy a large tract of land an split it up.

One of the tips for finding buyers is to call real estate professionals, two taht you can call are Home Inspectors and Appraisers. I came up with a list of questions to ask them. For home inspectors:

Let them know that you are a Real Estate Investor and are looking for a good home inspector

1. Are they are member of ASHI (you want them to say yes)
2. How many years in business?
3. How many inspections per year?
4. Do you carry errors and omissions insurance?
5. Have you worked with investors before?

If they say yes to the last one ask if they could give you the name of the investor as a reference. (Bingo you just got a lead for your buyers list!).

For Appraisers:

Also let thme know that you are a Real Estate Investor and are looking for a good Appraiser:

Ask them the following:

1. Are you licenced?
2. Do you have any professional designations?
3. Have you worked [in the area you are looking to invest]?
Have you worked with investors before?

If they say yes to the last one ask if they could give you the name of the investor as a reference. (Bingo you just got a lead for your buyers list!).

Ughhhh....was a late night a work, here it is 9:48 and I am just getting to this after eating and spending a little time with my family. Will have to make up for it tomorrow. Two webinars tomorrow night!!! Don't miss Dean & Jeff!

Finally was able to get the phone calls in to the Home Inspectors. Most of them are not currently working with Investors, so I didn't get too many leads there. Did end up talking to one, who is a small investor that belongs to the local REI club that I attended last week, may be able to do something with him in the future. Found some Home Inspectors that I can work with.

I also was able to finally get in touch with one of the "I buy homes" buyers to add to my list. Weeeeeeeeeee

Received a new book, "How to Get all the Money You Need to Buy Property" by Alan Cowgill. Can't wait to get through it!

....waiting for the conference call from Dean

Also had a WebEx seminar for "The Tax Club", it was an overview session and they will definately be an asset for the start of my business.

One other thing, when looking for Home Inspectors, look for ones that are a member of ASHI. Ask for other investors as a reference.

p.s. That conference call was AWESOME!!!

I am going to pursue the following Proactive Items:
1. Go to Investment Groups (added 2 additional meetings to attend).
2. Go to real estate auction (added a few more to go to next week while I am on vacation).
3. Continue contacting Home Inspectors & Appraisers. I will also come up with at list of Handy Men & Property Management Companies.

For Passive Items:
1. Post flyers on bulletin boards on grocery stores/ libraries / etc.
2. Post Ghost Ads on Craigslist (look into local newspapers).
3. Look into sign regualtions for towns I am looking into.

Hey Chris,
I just read through most of your journal for the 1st time and needless to say you've been pretty fired up to succeed. LOVE IT! Its cool to see student progress and the determination your showing. My hope for you is that your effort will be rewarded shortly.
By the way....you can add me to your buyers list if you think you can find a property that's significantly below FMV and in the Worcester County area. I'm currently looking to buy a multi-family which is bank owned. So keep me in mind. In the meantime I am looking hard myself.

Good luck to you.

Dave Puzo

I really enjoy your journal. Thanks for sharing your daily events. I need to come back to learn more and follow your progress. I wish you all my best and look forward to seeing more success in days to come.

Stay safe and Merry Christ-mas,
Randz

Zech.4

Thanks Dave, good luck to you also. I sent you a PM with my contact info, if you could do the same. I will keep an eye out for you.

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Your welcome Randz! I am posting for several reasons, one to keep a journal of my progress, two to keep me honest, three hopefully to inspire others.

Merry Christmas to you too!

My incorporation papers arrived today from The Tax Club!!! I am mailing them out tomorrow!! WOW it's real now!...well almost, need to get them back from the State!

I got a lot out of the conference call last night with Dean & Jeff. I just need a few more names for my Buyers List and they have given me a few more ideas that I am going to pursue (3 passive and 3 reactive, see yesterday's post).

I am going to focus on Investors untill have I 10 solid Buyers (I am at 7 right now, but need to qualify a couple of those, so I am at 5 qualified buyers). There are a few that I need to follow up on, but I still need to attract a few more. I am on vacation till after the first of the year, so it will be easier to make phone calls and post flyers / bandit signs!!!

I already changed my standard greeting to my Investors Message, so I will use my 800# on the flyers / bandit signs. I have the meeting dates for 4 local REI clubs (2 ea in RI & MA), I am thinking I will pick one in RI & one in MA to attend, once I figure out which ones I want to go to.

I am going to print out flyers to post, not sure if I can get them all tomorrow have a busy schedule. My family (wife & 3 boys) have an annual Christmas event, we go to see Christmas Carol at Trinity Rep in Providence, then we go to a nice resturant. Tomorrow is the day!!! We will top it off with Midnight Mass, which is actually at 10pm LOL. Can't believe Christmas is almost here!

I made a list of a bunch of auctions to attend while I am on vacation, first one is tomorrow!

I am posting a ghost ad on Craig's List tonight, going to look into other media also, but I am starting there.

I need to look into the bandit signs. I don't think I can post them in town here. Need to look into the laws in the neighboring towns.

What a day!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!

Our incorporation papers were mailed off to the State & the IRS today!!!!

I also posted Investor Flyers in grocery stores in the towns I am targeting. I made it a short day today, lots of things to do to get ready for Christmas!!!

Sorry, I haven't logged onto my journal since Christmas Eve, hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!!!

Think I am holidayed out!! (is that a word). Actually it was great!! But it is nice to relax a little finally, lots of running around getting ready for the holidays! Nothing has happended in the business, other than some thinking. Did get my customized tax plan from "The Tax Club" yesterday!

My brother also brought my laptop back to me. He fixed it after my boys picked up some nasty virus!!! So now I can set up everything for my busines on it!!! Thanks Bro!

I am on vaction all next week, so plan on working on the business alot (with some time to play with the boys). I also want to get through a bunch of my lessons from the Academy!!!

Oh, one of the things I bought the family for Christmas is the game "Cashflow". If you don't know what it is you need to look into it. It teaches you how to get out of the Rat Race and how to become an investor and achieve your dreams! Wish I knew this stuff while I was still in school!!!

Looking forward to 2010!!!! It's gonna be awesome!

Back in action after a long holiday weekend. Even better I have the week of so I can focus a little more attention on the business.

Today I am finally getting an office set up. I have piles all over the house that I have to keep moving because I have no permanent place to put them. We cleaner out a little used room (we call it our Florida room), bought a desk, a chair and some lamps. We are going to repaint it and put up some new drapes and I will finally have a place to put all the stuff and a quiet place to go to make phone calls, do research on properties...etc. Yeahhhh!!!

A few other things going on today. I found 2 more buyers to add to my list!!!! And I followed up on the Home Inspectors that I have been calling. Two of them gave me some other real estate investors to call as references!!!

I set up some of the software, etc. on the computer my brother fixed for me (thanks bro!). I also got a book in the mail that will help when estimating repairs on homes (from RS Means).

While I could work on this all day, I do need to spend some time with my boys. They are dying to play Cash Flow again, we were up till 11pm playing it and they love it!!!!

Spent most of the day getting my office set up. Painted & cleaned the room, desk arrived in the afternoon. Working on rehanging the blinds & curtain. I know this may not seem very productive, but with 3 boys I need some place quite that I can work in, so it should pay HUGE dividends.

Had my first wealth coaching session! Learned alot, have my next session on Thursday. Recommended a few books: Think & Grow Rich and The Secret.

I have a lot of lessions to get caught up on!!! Need to get ahead while I am home on vacation.

Played another game of Cashflow with the boys! I WON!!!! Am getting the hang of it.

Got my office completed today!!! I finally have a place to keep everything organized, plus a place to go if I need some quiet to make phone calls, etc., it's really hard to have 3 boys keep quiet when they are home for vacation and it is in the teens outside....brrrrrrrrrr.

Headed off to my first auction today, when I got there no one was there??? I think it got cancelled?

Spent some time following up on my list of Home Inspectors and made my first set of calls for appraisers. One of them is sending me a list of investors as references!!!! Yeah!!!!!

Went thru the "Marketing Yourself on the Web" lesson tonight. It is chock full of information!! Can't wait to put it to use. I am a little behind on my lessons with all the holidays! Hope to catch up on a few of them.

Plan on setting up my "Automated Foreclosure Finder" website tomorrow and using some of the techniques I learned in my lesson to market it!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

I am really excited about what 2010 will be bringing!!

Followed up on phone calls today, spoke with some more appraisers and home inpectors. I got a list of references from one of the appraisers which includes some real estate investors!

Went thru the lession "What to Look For", which helps you indentify the areas to target for homes. Again lots of great information. I also spoke to my coach and they directed me to the lessons that will help me with finding and purchasing homes! Thanks coach!!!

Also had a long teleconference with my new Wealth Coach (part of the benefits of The Tax Club). They reviewed all of my retirement accounts. Found out that none of them have been performing well (check on yours at google/finance). Will be working on setting up a self directed IRA which allows you to invest in REAL ESTATE!!! Yes, I said REAL ESTATE. There are only 3 areas that you can not invest the funds in: collectables, life insurance policies and S Corps. Otherwise it is wide open!!! Something worth looking into.

Started work on setting up my Automated Foreclosure website, lost the connection to the site, so I will work on it again tomorrow. I want to try some of the new techniques I learned to promote the site on the web. You need to be on the internet, 71% of all homeowners use the internet!!

Again, HAPPY NEW YEAR, hope you all have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2010!!

Chris,

I'm glad to see that you are moving along so well. Keep up the great work.

By the way, I would recommend Rich Dad, Poor Dad for you to read. Maybe you already have and that's how you got turned on to the Cash Flow game. I found RDPD to be much better for me than Think and Grow Rich.

Also, I am also doing a self directed IRA for real estate investing. Great way to appropriate some cash for REI. No personal income from it, but a great way to build a retirement account.

Keep after it, guy. Great to see your progress.

Rick

Follow my progress at http://www.deangraziosi.com/real-estate-forums/investing-journals/35914/...

Yes, I have read Rich Dad, Poor Dad! And yes, that is where I got the cash flow game from.

Think and Grow Rich is more about setting big goals, which will motivate us to continue when the going gets tough! I read it years ago, but want to re-read it.

You keep it up to Rick, Happy New Year!