Chris's - Rhode Island Real Estate Journal

at the "lead" paint comment. I can SOOOOO see that going over well in a quiet room mesmerized by the low cost of a low degree paint! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Glad you are enjoying your local REI club. I've only been to a few meetings, and I really need to put an action plan together JUST WITHIN THE REI club in terms of volunteering. I hear volunteering with the club is REALLY where it is at...as far as connecting with people, truly helping people in the process (while volunteering) and getting to know the officers and people integral in staying "active" in the organization, which also means these people are the most tied into the actual "doing" of being an investor. Not the side-lines folks for sure! Wow this RE stuff is fun, isn't it? Challenging of course...but the process is such an awesome journey.

Congrats on continuing this journal and keeping up with your "daily" writings and accountability. I've enjoyed the "read" so far and awesome that Lori is "on it" and that you're in this together. SO GREAT!!

Yes, I'm still blown away that I'm actually going to get to go to The Edge too!! I can't get our taxes done fast enough either.

All the best in your continued success Chris!
Louisa

I meant to mention...that book you have by Alan Cowgill...rang a bell with me. I believe that is exactly the book that one of the VIP members (of last year's Edge) that I saw on video...that is the exact one that they recommended to read on hard money or actually I think it was more private money lenders. I'm sure that's the author. Thanks for reminding me. I need to go look him up and get his stuff. It may be why you have it too, but I thought I would throw my two cents in that some other DG'ers were talking about it and recommending it!

Cheers!
Louisa

Checking in to say Hi. It's rally great to see all of your progress. It's a good thing that you and your wife are doing this together.

Blessings,
Cathy

Whew....couldn't get on DG last night, not sure if anyone else had the same problem. Now I can't remember what I did last night???

Anyhow, tonight I am going to try some new sources for locating some houses. I gotta take action and get this train moving. I am going to use some of Carol's advise from the video and call some landlords!!

Action...Action...Action

May be snowed in tomorrow, great time to look for some real estate. One other tip, you can tell the vacant homes after a snow storm!!

By, the way, got my incorporation paperwork (turns out they don't mail it anymore, just post it on-line...who knew). So we are officially Eagle Properties Group, Inc.!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations on keeping up the journal and taking action.

I couldn't get on all day yesterday and thought it was my poor computer. Now I have to apologize to it for all the bad names...

Snow day here too since the schools are playing it safe. I remember when I was in school and we'd go to school as long as someone could get to the bus to get it started. But that all changed one day when I was in 7th grade and they ended up sending us home right after lunch. I vividly recall my bus going down River Road in Lincoln sideways and holding my breath all the way home. Didn't help that I lived on a bus route the furthest from the school. That was the Blizzard of '78 and I think of that bus every time I go down that hill...

Will do some research and reading today. Planned on attending one of the local REI clubs this evening, but it will probably be canceled. Any word on that?

Yes, I saw it on one of the EDGE videos. I have the book, but haven't finished reading it. I think it ends up being a big sales pitch for his program. It looked pretty good, but not something I am ready for yet.

Thank you Cathy & Hi! Well I need to actually get a deal under my belt, but I will do it!!! Yes it is great having my wife on the team with me!!!

Take Care,

Chris

Webinar is still on!!! Some snow day...LOL, I even came home early to avoid the traffic, but the storm didn't happen.

Attended a webinar put on by one of the local REIAs. The webinar was done by a partner of one of the people on my buyers list. They provided a lot of local insite to the local market as well as providing additional information on building a buyers list, private money lenders, tranactional funding and even offered a live session on how they evaluate repair costs on a property! Was well worth the time. Combined with the knowledge from Dean, DG.com and the success academy I have no option but to succeed.

...on the weather, not sure what it is doing now, but we didn't get all the snow they were predicting.

A few things came out of the webinar last night. I need a better buyers list!! Also I learned that in the local market 30-40% of the homes are short sales, so I need to learn to take advantage of those. They recommended a short sale negotiator and I will need transactional funding for a "double close".

I am in the process of buying a house for cash using money in my self directed IRA!! Exciting!!!

WOW! The Opening exercise were awesome....wasn't able to stay awake for all of them. It great to see all the athletes from all over the world competing for their "dream".

I have been working on setting up my self directed IRA so I can start using it for real estate investments. If anyone has any experience using this money for their own investments as a loan, please let me know. The company I am working with "CM Capital" & "Preferred Trust" is experienced with Real Estate and is working with a company that provides a turn-key solution, full renovated and rented with a property manager. I am in the process of evaulating them now.

I am working on my first deal. The things you learn from this program, who knew you could set up a self-directed IRA and actually buy real estate!!!! I am in the process of putting some of my retirement money in a self directed IRA. With that money I will be able to buy a house for cash. The best part is I found an investor who has done all the work, renovated and rented the property. So I will be walking into a deal with a Rent to Own Tenant on a fully renovated house. The have pre-agreed on the selling price, so only thing to do now is sit back an collect the monthly rent check until they buy the house!!! Details to follow!!!

Great day today! I signed papers on my first deal! I will post the information on the first deal forum.

I watched a "Private Money" webinar tonight, while it provided a lot of good information, it ends up being a big sales pitch. It is definitely something I want to pursue once other sources dry up.

Still need to get my taxes finalized....I am almost there, I guess I need to stop learning for a night or two...LOL

By the way, Dean's new book is awesome!!! Lot's of great information, the student examples are great!

Congrats on getting your first deal! Can't wait to hear the details and wish you many more GREAT deals.

Lea
SPR Property Solutions, LLC

They only get easier from here. Are you going to the REI meeting tonight in Warwick? If so I'd love to meet you. Great job on getting that first deal started.

Kristin

Unfortunately I didn't make it tonight, we had a meeting a work and I wasn't able to get out early enough. I plan on going next month!

Thank you everyone for all the comments on my first deal. Just waiting on the transfer of my funds and the closing. It should close by the end of the month.

Taking the night off to spend some time with my family, they are feeling ignored and my boys have been on vacation all week. So a little quality time with the family tonight.

Missed logging in my journal last night, so this is a two day update.

The purchase of my property is moving forward, I had to get a quote on home insurance for the property. The closing is scheduled for next Thursday!!! I am excited an scared at the same time, with the property being so far away.

Today I went to a live training put on by one of the members of my local REIA. They took us to a property (there were about 40 of us) that they recently purchased, and walked us thru how they would estimate the repairs of the property. They provided their form already filled out plus an instruction package and pricing for some typical items. The whole event was about 2 1/2 hours and they provided a lot of additional information as we walked thru the house. It was invaluable information.

We celebrated my wife grandfather's 90th birthday today!!! God bless him, he was very surprised and we had a good turnout of family.

My wife Lori got into a discussion with one of her uncle and it turns out his sister is selling a condo she has cheap!!! He also has a property that he may be selling. Doesn't hurt to get the word out the you are in real estate.

Loved reading your journal. Congratulations on your first deal! I would like to hear more on how you got it. I am starting over (3rd time)with REI and believe, like you, that the journal is the way to have accountability. I will be following some of your steps in getting my REI started again.
I look forward to reading your journal.

God bless.

Got my taxes done tonight! Whew!!!

My deal is moving forward, closing is still scheduled for Thursday. I forgot how much paper you need to close, especially with an IRA & custodian! Just waiting on the title company! Will keep everyone posted!

I have been reading your journal and it sound like your on the move. I do think that a great REI group can help to understand your market and that special training on walk thru on writing up a inspection had to be some pretty good help when figuring out cost for repairs. Best of luck

Now that I have the taxes behind me I can focus on moving forward.

Not sure if my house is closing tomorrow, I have not seen the final paperwork yet???

Based on a tip from Indiana-Joe (thanks Joe!) I am going to get a PO Box so I can use that address on my business cards. Have to wait till I get my box number before I order the cards.

Dean's new book has been great! Based on reading it, I now see that I need to focus my efforts on a particular area. I have a general idea on where to focus, but need to fine tune the demographics to determine the best area. Once I figure that out I will further research each neighborhood (again...Thanks Joe!).

I also realized that I do not have enough names on my buyers list. I had names in both RI & MA, but not enough in one state. I am going to focus on my home state of RI for now and look to expand later.

Based on my first deal, I think there is a real opportunity for private money. I have a lot of friends and former co-workers who unfortunately have ended up with a lay-off. Most of these people probably have 401K $ that is not making much money for them in the stock market. If I can work with a self-directed IRA custodian, I may be able to build a list of private investors to invest money in my real estate deals. Some food for thought that I wanted to share.

Chris, I too have been spending alot of time reading and working on using private money, through family and friends. There is alot to know about though so tread carefully the SEC can be involved in this. I believe from my resources, Rhode Island can have 25 private lenders up to 1,000,000 total without filing paperwork with the SEC. I don't think it's a big deal to file the paperwork but I know if you are under 1,000,000 you are under the radar. The only thing I'm trying to clarify is if you can use money from out of state to buy props in your state. Good Luck, love to hear how that goes. What percent return on the money are you offering?

Cathy

I haven't looked into the details yet on private money. I want to get a few deals under my belt before I go down that road.

The paperwork came thru on my house today!!!! It should close tomorrow!!! Weeeeeeee

Last night I posted some ghost ads looking for buyers for my buyers list. I will repost the ads every couple of days. Tonight I am going to see if I can find some cash buyers via the HUD. I also have a business card for a hard money lender that may have some names for me.

Got a response to one of my ghost ads from a realtor that could be a member of my team. I will have to follow up with him.

The closing went thru yesterday, so I now own rental property in Jacksonville!!! (well at least my retirement account does). AWESOME!!!!

I am helping my wife Lori with a test to become a home stagger, something she started pursuing before I started on REI. It should actually help us with the business and she should make some good contacts in the Real Estate field too!! So I won't have much time to work on anything tonight.

Oh, we also had a banquet for my youngest son's wrestling team. They won their division!!! So the whole team got championship t-shirts. It was a good year.

Gotta run, so we can work on the test, lots to do tomorrow.

p.s. My oldest is having his annual birthday event, a sleepover with his closest friends. So by this time tomorrow the house will be full of boys, or young men. The have pizza, we take them all bowling, then a BIG breakfast Sunday morning. The boys love it!!

Got my PO Box today (great tip Indy-Joe), and I am finally ordering my business cards. Will have a house full of boys here soon, have been running around all day getting ready for this party. Maybe I can get a little time in later??

Finished Dean's Book this weekend! Whew, there was a ton of information in there, I will be going back to reread some sections for sure!

OK, my buyer list needs some work!!! I need to go back and add some more names to it. I posted some ghost ads on Craigslist. I need to work on a few more angles. Part of my wants to go out and find those deals, but the buyers list is the exit strategy in almost any situation so I need a good one! I am going to re-read Jeff's posting and tackle as many angles as possible.

I am working on investing some more of my IRA money in First Trust Deeds! I will let you know how that goes.