Chris's - Rhode Island Real Estate Journal

Yeaaa on deal #3 soon to close!!!! Keep up the steamroll!!!

Blessings,
Gorgeous

We are chasing each other to the dream!

So....two Contractors come by to look at my property. One pulls up in a convertible Audi and the other in a late model pickup, who do you think will give me a better number???

Wish I could start now! Will have to do the before & after pictures.

I know funniest thing.. Which im not telling anyone yet till we close but i just signed final purchase agreement on my first flip!!! and using a HML just like you did!!! This is so awesome and funny. I will post full info shortly!! SO THAT MEANS HURRY UP!!! post deal# 3 ALREADY!! LOLLL Just kidding.

God Bless

OK, deal #3 closes tomorrow!!!

And get this....I only paid $30K for it. It is a small house in a OK neighborhood, I plan on doing a little work to it, then renting it out.

Getting quotes on property #2 tomorrow, the first # came in, I almost fell off my chair. Looks like I may be working on it myself!

Hi Chris - great to hear about your latest deals! We're rehabbers up in VT so it's interesting to read how things are down in Rhode Island.

Quick question on deal #2 - you mentioned you got it done with hard money and I think there was a post or two asking for more details. Can you detail how the numbers came out? Also did you just use a rough estimate of rehab numbers at the time, since you're now getting firm estimates (I thought it was the opposite, in that they wanted to see 3 firm estimates up front when approving the loan).

Thanks!

Tom

Sorry for not checking in as I regularly do. It was a busy weekend! I realized how fast the summer was going by and we hadn't made it to one of our favorite summer stomping grounds, Aunt Carries in Pt. Judith! So we headed off Friday for some Chowder & Clam cakes, then drove down to the light house to enjoy them and the ocean view! On of the perks of living in RI.

Saturday we drove off to New York, my wife's second cousin was trying out for an NHL farm team!! They are from Michigan and we don't get to see them much, and we have never seen him play hockey so it was a great day. He looked good to us, should hear later this week it he made the cut!

Sunday we celebrated my grandmother 89th birthday! God bless her, she is still very mobile and alert and lives on her own in her own house!! I hope I am in as good of health at her age!

Back to business....still waiting on quotes on deal #2. I am also going to put it up for wholesale to make a quick buck. I have a potential buyer that I am going to call tomorrow.

Deal #3 closed on Friday, my realtor has someone who is interested in the house, I will know for sure later this week (he is away on vacation).

OK...gotta get off to bed, have to head out early tomorrow for Maine!

You are busy Glad to hear you are enjoying friends and family along with doing great in real estate!
Where do you go in Maine?
I own land outside Bar Harbor. Even tho I'm going all over the place with real estate right now, settling on the coast of Maine to live is my ultimate goal. Its so beautiful there!
Enjoy!

WOW Chris your really rolling, Keep up the momentum. Hope to hear you sold those homes soon.
What part of NY were you in? Im in Queens, would have loved to met ya for lunch if you were in my area.

good luck
Richie

Chris, I saw your house for sale on Craigslist. It was cool to see. Glad to see things are going good for you. Keep up the good work. Maybe I'll see you one of these days at the REI Group meeting.

Jean

I was in TarryTown....spent time with Family and drove up & back in the same day. So not much time to do anything else, thought about driving down to the city.

Thanks! I have been getting a lot of calls!

I plan on making the meeting this week! See you there.

I played a lot of catch up yesterday, boy did it pay off!

I got 3 calls from one of my Craigslist ads... one was a fellow investor who wholesales properties but is also a short sale negotiator, we talked about partnering on a deal...the next caller is a "bird-dogger" who has a bunch of cash buyers on his list, but could also find properties for me for a fee...the third is a couple looking for a house that is looking for a lease option...

I got the second estimate on my property...and it is within my budget!! The first quote was double my budget...was making me nervous. Reviewing it tonight, then meeting with them tomorrow at the property to make sure everything is covered.

To top it all off....Dean's conference call!

I am posting the details on the hard money loan on my deal #2!

http://www.deangraziosi.com/real-estate-forums/my-deals/50448/deal-2

I met with my Contractor today, went thru his quote & my scope. He seems like a great contractor and has worked for many of the members of my REI club. He made some recommendations on where to spend the money wisely and some cost saving suggestions also. I told him where I need him to be and he is going back to sharpen his pencil.

While I was there a family stopped by that saw one of my Craigslist ads. They were interested in possibly buying it. They are upside down on their mortgage and want to move out of their house to a better school system. They have been trying to do a short sale, but it has been dragging on for months. I am going to contact him and see if I can do a Greg Murphy deal with them and then do a similar deal to find them a house. See how is goes....

We have come to the time of year that we look forward to all year....Football season!!!! My son had his first scrimmage tonight and they looked pretty good.

On a business note, spoke to a fellow DGer today who was looking for funding for a real estate development. I have them the name of the company I am working with on my self directed IRA.

Spoke to my potential contractor tonight. We are going to meet tomorrow, to review the final numbers and hopefully finalize the deal.

I also worked on getting all the utilities turned over to my name. An oil company left a letter in my door, turns out they knew my grandfather and uncle who owned an oil company down the street.

Meet with a Contractor yesterday to review his quote. He is someone I met through my REI group. You need to be a part of your local Real Estate Investing Group. There are lots that you can gain out of this group.

1. Learn from other who have been in the business for years.
2. Build a buyers list from members.
3. Get new business contacts: realtors, attorneys, contractors...etc.
4. Ask questions & share what you are doing

I called all of his referrals and they were all happy with his work. He gives a very detailed, line by line estimate. He makes suggestions for items that he feels are not needed, as well as items that make help improve the value of the property. All his work is with real estate investors. He also gives a week by week schedule. He is looking to franchise eventually.

We got to a number that I am comfortable with and changed the scope around a little to add some items that will help improve the property and others that were not necessary were removed. The only unknown is the heating system and possible damaged pipe since the property was winterized. So I left some money in reserve just in case.

He should be starting within the week.

I am still waiting to here about the potential buyer for my other property, he is on vacation this week, so hope to hear soon.

This week I had a couple contact me who are going through a short sale on their home. Like so many people out there they are upside down on their mortgage. The bought a great house in the wrong area and just want to move to a better place.

Inspired by Greg Murphy I am going to help them find a new home. My plan is to find someone in a similar situation as them (up-side down on mortgage) that is willing to let me lease their home with an option to buy, the do a sandwich lease option to buy with the family.

This will be a win-win-win, I am excited to be able to help someone. I have put them in touch with my mortgage broker and the Roberts Group to help with their credit. My plan will be to lease the home to them for 2 years, until they can get their credit squared away, then sell them the home.

It has worked well for Greg Murphy and I want to follow his lead.

Chris,
I just got caught up on your journal. I have been off for a while with difficulties, but I am back again. I have been enjoying the progress you document in your journal. Congratulations on your progress and especially your wonderful attitude. You seem to be tireless in your efforts to do more deals. I am sure you will be featured in one of Dean's programs and maybe even Edge 2011. Thank you for keeping us posted. I look forward to reading your journal as often as I can.

Tim

Tim, Thanks for your kind words!

awesome that you are adding a new strategy to your tool box. i love Greg's strategy and will be using it myself with sandwich lease/options. way to go!

Contractor called, lock box on my house and work will begin this week, I can't wait!!!!

Working hard on building my buyers list, sent out about a dozen letters. The reference from my Contractor had a bunch of investors, plus I have been getting a lot of responses to my Craigslist ads. I think the SFL system will help even more!

I am going to build my buyers list....then tenant buyers list...then private lenders list. I have one tenant buyer right now that I need to find a house for. Using all Greg's info...thanks Greg!

Chris it's good to see you are taking pro active steps to become successful in real estate investing. Most people give up after a few days of trying with the attitude this thing doesn't work. This journal of yours should be motivation of the opportunities that do exist in this highly competitive self-made industry.

Get back on the routine of Training on Tuesdays....

Have a ton of material that I can go through.

Got a lot of calls today, one of them turned out to be a cousin of my wife...too funny. He is looking for a house for his daughter.

Contractor may be starting tomorrow, the alarm company called me, they are installing an alarm on Thursday. This is a cellar alarm, no wires to cut and it can be moved from property to property.

Had the first training session for Set For Life last night and all I can say is WOW!!!!

This is going to make a huge difference and enable my business to grow!

On another note, the alarm got installed in my house today...have to check to see if construction started.

Construction has begun on my property! It is good to see some progress!

I added two buyers to my buyers list today! Let a few voice mails for others.

Starting to learn the "Set for Life" program, looks like an awesome tool!

I didn't know you had bought the Set For Life deal. I am glad to hear your impressions on that tool. It is really good that you keep moving ahead and working on your deals. You give me encouragement since I know you have moved further ahead in shorter time than me. Keep us posted please on all your doings. I really enjoy reading your journal with all the insights you provide.

Tim

Tim,

Thanks for your words of encouragement! Sometimes I feel I could be further along and I am still finding out what words best for me. Once you get started it starts to flow.

From taking action I have found a few things:

1. I need a bigger buyers list.
2. I need to focus on properties that meet the criteria of my buyers (especially price). They will tell you where you need to be.
3. Always have a plan B, and possibly a plan C.
4. Try to find a way to make a deal work.
5. Work with urgency.
6. Find alternate funding sources.

Kids started school today...can't believe summer is almost over, where did it go??

Nothing new to report...going to make a few calls on my buyers list, update my buyer's database and put together a flyer to attract buyers.

I designated Tuesday as training day, so many things I could train on, going to run thru the set for life training.

Printed out a bunch flyers last night that I will be posting later this week. I hope to attract some cash buyers with them. They read as follows:

HANDYMAN SPECIAL 3/2
$72k OBO
[phone #]

KISS = Keep It Simple Silly