Tammy's journey to refinement and FREEDOM. GREAT THINGS ARE HERE!

Michael, first, Thank you so much for the great, inspiring, and ever encouraging post. It is exactly what I needed to hear! I dropped to my knees and said a prayer for him, and I am so glad to have such a wonderful DG family here! 10%.. In Malachi there is the ONLY verse in the Bible that challenges us to test God; and it has to do with tithing. I am so looking forward to being profitable so that I can donate more; not just to the church but so many other causes that are so important! You are a wonderful friend to have! Boy am I glad I know you! Looking so forward to our deal together!

Valerie, I walked into my house and couldn't believe it was my house either. LOL Really, it was a MAGNIFICENT buy when I bought it. I don't remember if I shared the story, or rather testimony really, of how I got it and why I got it $350K off of appraised value with multiple people going after it and not being able to pay anywhere near as any of the other bidders. God truly watches over me and brings great things in my life. I need to focus on all the good that He has given me! It really is amazing when I look at everything I've done and none of it would have been possible without my faith in God.

Gena, I read your post about forgiveness in response to Dean's blog and it inspired me so, so much. Forgiveness truly sets the offended free, rather than the offender. Its the forgetting I wish was easier. There are so many times I struggle with HOW do I forget something that is constantly repeated over and over and over again? I will try to forget about it and then, am reminded of all the prior trials when that same trial happens again.

Judi, Thank you so much for the encouragement and words of wisdom. I really should have a glass of wine. I'm such a lightweight 1 glass would do the trick because I never drink. LOL I need to enjoy so much more and stress so much less! One of the reasons I'm on this journey; it is hard, but as it goes on it gets easier and less stressful.

Shirley, I appreciate you stopping by my journal and for reminding me of Footprints. It is relieving now that's it only; but I will say the house is so much more beautiful now than when the toys take over. But, I did a TON of scrubbing and put a lot of elbow grease in. I have cleaned every wall, molding, trim, door, window, floor, crevice, cranny, nook, furniture, sill, etc in my house. Literally. I did a DEEP cleaning to the core! I don't think it even looked this good when I bought it. We also put about $2K into fixing things we put off fixing because they were cosmetic.

Silas, I am glad I inspire, I am hoping by sharing ALL of my journey, all the ups and downs and trials I go through, I can show that the journey is real and it is NOT easy, but perserverance and diligence prevails!

Cathy, Thanks for thinking of me and checking how things are going. My next update will be about the auction. For tonight though, this journal entry has gotten VERY long, so I will post tomorrow. Had 3 hours sleep last night and must get a shower and get to bed! There will not be any 'outcome' until late Monday or Tuesday. Suspense!!!

Linda, I know you can relate in many ways. You also are a great inspiration to me! I start my days with prayers and things I'm grateful for; but on days I'm woken up by doorbells or unexpected things, and I miss out on that, my days aren't so great. So, it does make a huge difference!

Off to feed the 2 year old and go shower and get to bed. Its been a tough couple of weeks!

I am so grateful for my DG family here! It is such a great support system I rely on SO much!

for the auction. He thought it was today, so I toured him and his wife through the house. Turns out, he was interested in the teaser price; we got to talking because he wanted to know why we'd ever want to move. We started talking about being closer to hubby's job and our cabin in the mountains, and he was in AWE, how can you also have a cabin in the mountains. This spurred on an hour conversation about REI. Which led to... a PRIVATE MONEY LENDER or JV partner. Walked right into my house. !!!!!!! **ecstatic joy and laughter** He wants to get out of the rat race, the J O B and be able to retire. I told him I was looking for an intern and he jumped on it and said, I will do it, please teach me how... WOW! Now, he sounded very serious. I gave him my info and got his info and this is just great!

Also, I am having someone help me call banks right now. Because I only get to call 3-5 of them a day and its taken so long. I'm going to pay his cell phone bill for a month and he is going to call my list of over 300 banks!! This is someone on my power team already who calls all the traditional lenders and brokers, as well as a hard money lender scout. He is a real go getter so I ran the possibility by him. He was all for it and will start calling tomorrow. Then, he will type them all up in my database and let me know which ones meet the requirements and I will call them to build a personal relationship with those particular banks only and will not have spent all my time on banks that aren't conducive to REI.

Now, I know what you all want to hear about. I'll post about it next post. I have a sweet 2 year old that wants me to tickle her and it is my duty to go make her laugh.

Tammy,

you are the one teasing us here... you write these two huge posts, and Nothing about your auction?-come on... we do want to hear about it, and you know it!

You do sound in better spirits, and I am glad to hear that even if it's in a small way, that you do find support through everyone's posts.

It is amazing how people cross our paths, but in your case, your PML walked into your home-great story! Keep us posted...

Wishing you even more success,

Valerie

I was just watching videos of when 2 of my boys were little like that. You just want to eat them up! So precious.

Well, lets start off by saying I will not be selling my house; not via this auction. I tried an auction out with a local realtor who does this all the time. But, he started the bidding out way to low, IMHO. He swears by his method and that it works, but he usually does tract homes that are easy to comp. But, we had 126 people go through the house; including the straggler that came through. What I learned from the straggler that went through is that he was expecting a value of $700ish from the starting bid of $589K. So, I think if I try it again; starting bids will be much higher and I'll stick to my original strategy of auctioning off art, having a caterer, and other such things as I wanted to set up my auction.

Of the 125 people that came through, supposedly no one had anything good to say about the property according to the realtor. 10 bidders put in bids; and 3 were super serious. Not bad, really. If you get more than 1% that's a good return; but they were people looking for homes in the $700-800K range, so it didn't work out right. They are still calling and talking to the bidders, but it doesn't look like the pool of buyers from $1M-2M came through. He SAID there were a few, and that they were qualified, by their claims, but I'm doubting that seriously. Our home is very contemporary style and doesn't have the customary dark cabinets that are the craze right now.

I now have a spotless house out of it, too and I know it will work GREAT on any flips I do. And, I also have all the materials to do it on my own (of my own, not of the realtors); the only thing I'd need help with is putting it on the MLS.

So, it was a great experience and a lot of work getting the house looking like this... now to keep it up!

Tammy,

Sounds like you've been through alot. It is all a great experience though. Good luck to you.

Cheryl

I hope everything is going better for by now. Sorry to hear that your auction did not pan out for you.

Keep your head up Tammy and keep up the hard work you are doing.

Steve.

Well, now you have the names of 125 people looking for houses in the $700-$800k range

Tammy,

as you say, you learned a lot from it, and now you have the tools to do it yourself!
125 people? that is quite a bit; I would say quite successful.
And a spotless home to enjoy for a few.... weeks??

thanks for sharing!

Valerie

and wanted to update. I have my documents for my cash out refi in front of 8 new lenders now. ONE of them is BOUND to come through. As a last resort, I also have found a few stated income loans that will cost me an arm and a leg and not get my cash out, BUT, they are there for the worst case scenario if noone else will refi my loan because I'm such an awful, horrible, credit risk because I pay my bills on time, don't pay my bills late, have never had a vacancy, build my networth and cashflow even in a down market, and I have enough left over after paying all my bills to live on... wait a minute; I mean, because none of that matters because its all about a DTI ratio concocted by the banks deciding to chop 2-6K of my income away even though its been steady income for 14, 11, and 7 years respectively. Banks and portfolio lenders alike love to put me through the grinder. But, I will overcome. IT may take time, but WATCH, I will do this! One way or another!

Steve, Tom and Valerie, thanks for coming by and staying with me on my journey. Its definitely a roller coaster ride of ups and downs. And Tom, you are so right. But they are all looking for view property, so I will have to focus on acquiring view property for my next rehab. Stay tuned for the next saga.

You know the old saying...."he who has the gold makes the rules."

And he/she who is persistent wins

is worth more than gold and I am GOING TO prove it! This is a 5th financed property for me, so if there is any inclining to have it meet Freddie and Fannie guidelines, it won't; this is because Freddie/Fannie require 2 years worth of tax returns on ALL rental properties; well of course I just acquired this in 2010 and rented it in 2011, so I don't have tax returns that show its income. It sucks, because my DTI meets all the requirements; until they add the expenses on WITHOUT my rents. (IF they included my rents, my DTI would be even better). Even portfolio lenders want to meet Freddie/Fannie guidelines to insure their loans; even if they don't sell them; this has been my stumbling block and I will have to find a work around somehow!

Doors are opening. I am ELATED right now. This is SO awesome! This is so incredible. Remember the person that I let come through my house the day after the auction? He is very serious. That's all I'll say right now. Wish I could say more!

I know, I'm a tease.

I have SO many people working on my loan situation. I'm not getting anywhere on my own or even with the person I have calling all these local small banks. So, I've enlisted the help of some other people to brainstorm on this. There HAS to be a way!

It is CERTAIN I will SUCCEED!!!

hi im trying to find out how to buy properties no money down at divorce court...im trying to find out the steps...can you help me please anyone

Well,
The first step would be to go to the local courthouse in your county to see who has filed for a divorce. The papers should be filed with the county courthouse and it is free to search.

Then you can directly market to the address of the person going through a divorce.

Also, you can search the MLS and have a realtor (or in some areas there are some great online search tools to do the search yourself-some of the best ones here in So Cal are www.redfin.com and www.sawbuck.com.

My first official deal using Dean's techniques was a divorce sale, and I had an awesome realtor who found out about it a few hours before it was listed. It was listed very below market and there were multiple bids; so to get it, I put forth my last and final offer to begin with and requested a quick closing. I got the bid (there were 4 others bidding on the house despite it just hitting the market).

So, there is definitely an advantage to going to the courthouse and going through the records. Anyone else, please feel free to chime in

It is CERTAIN we will SUCCEED!

I've heard a rumor that someone was thinking because my parents passed on that I must have 'inherited' a lot of money. Hmm... now, whoever said that was totally assuming. Weird, but that's how rumors get started.

My mom and dad were poor (but rich where it counted). So poor that when I was growing up I rode my bike, walked, and took a bus everywhere. Occasionally we'd get the luxury of wow... taking a TAXI!!! We never had a car. I wore clothes from Goodwill. Every now and then I'd get some new clothing from Kmart. I guess that's why today I really don't care for high end clothes and think they're just a waste of money. (and I still love Goodwill and thrift shops )

I earned a huge allowance of $0.25 cents a week. For that $0.25 cents, I worked hard for it. I bought all my own toys. I would get many of them at goodwill because I could get a good deal on them there. Sometimes I'd save up for months to walk across the way (about 8 blocks) to the local Kmart and buy a toy I had been dreaming about having. My parents up until I was 10 were Jehovah's witnesses, so I never had birthday parties or got to celebrate Christmas. At age 10, I got to have my FIRST birthday party. One of my friends bought me a BRAND NEW barbie and I took that thing and slept with it. (hey now, nothing kinky here!) I had NEVER had a NEW Barbie before and it was just amazing to have a NEW Barbie doll! I can remember the elation of getting that Barbie to this day. The friend's name was Yvetta, and to this day, I can not find her. But I was so overwhelmed with this HUGE gift. Sure , I'd get some gifts from my grandpa and grandma, but this one really stuck out to me, because I had always gotten my Barbies used at goodwill, with ratty hair and such.

After I turned 8, my grandpa gave me $50 a month. He taught me all about money and how it was wise to save money. MOST of that money went into a savings account. On a few occasions I went out and bought a toy with a small portion of the money. When I was 15 I needed braces; some of that saved money went towards my braces. When I was 18, I used some of the money to buy my first car. (A 1974 VW Superbeetle!)

My parents were the BEST parents anyone could hope for. They weren't rich, they had limited income coming in from the government due to VA benefits and social security. My dad volunteered his time at goodwill fixing up electronic equipment. He could not get a regular job due to brain damage sustained in the Navy. My mom also had mental disabilities. My dad was smart enough to buy life insurance. His insurance was just enough to cover all the costs of taking care of end of life expenses and having $7K extra. (He passed 7 years after I had my first and second homes, though). With that money, I moved my mom from WI to CA, bought her furniture and helped to take care of her for the last 3 years of her life. I was so glad to be able to get to know my mom again; her illness had gotten worse, and it was VERY challenging. Her hidden personality was AMAZING, it was keeping her on her meds so her wonderful qualities could shine through that was difficult. The remaining money went towards some of her final costs.

I found out my grandpa; the one who gave me the $50 every month, had a small life insurance policy for my mom, but my Uncle, her brother, who never took any part in her life, was the beneficiary. He gave me the check when she passed; it was a total surprise to me. Had he not said anything, I never would have know. It was for about $6K. I bought some nice urns for my parents; my dads ashes were scattered over Lake Michigan; my moms are in her urn. So, yes, after I was well established, I inherited some money; not a huge chunk of it, about $4K after all taken into account. But, I'd rather have them here with me. It is what it is. Wanted to set the record straight, though.

I made my money working hard at jobs and then investing in RE because I had learned early on about saving money and am where I am today because of my husband and I's hard work and RE, God's blessings in our lives, sacrificing a lot all the time, and have moved beyond our hump where we were stuck due to the economy thanks to Dean sharing his knowledge and techniques.

Thank you for reading if you got this far.

Thanks for sharing with us about your early life, I enjoyed the insight. Everyones story is different which is what makes us each so unique. I'm not sure why people think that if someone is successful they couldn't have earned it, they must have had it given to them.

I hadn't heard any rumor, but it was still nice to read your post, and I'm sure that whoever started that rumor probably has way too much time on his/her hand, and needs to go out and get busy with rei instead of creating discourse on this site.

Stay focused; don't let those insignificant things distract you from your goals!

I know those DTI numbers set by the banks can be really annoying... and the required 30% equity in the rental properties??!!

Looking forward to hearing about your 'deal' with the 'person'...

Valerie

Shot down again; this was by another true portfolio lender that doesn't sell their loans. This one was only taking 75% of our rents; even the ones on our sched E; Well, that removes over $2400 of income right there; and we're already at 46% taking all our rents on the established rentals and 75% on the new house. This is my 13th 'NO'. This DTI thing is NUTS. They take NO account of how much cash you have left for the month when all is said and done, which is just plain wrong.

Well, tomorrow I've set my appointment with my private money lender/intern. I am meeting with both him and his wife about the investment in trust deeds and qualifying them as a private money lender. This is the FIRST time I'm giving my presentation and I'm SO nervous!!! This PML has 300-400K to lend to me to 'start out with' .

PLEASE LORD, be with me as I make this presentation and take away the jitters and the intimidation!

Whether it goes well or not, I will have the experience of giving my presentation. I'm going to practice it on my hubby tonight.

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me! Phil 4:13.~!

It is CERTAIN I WILL SUCCEED!!!!

Thanks for taking the time to read it. I remember the blog Dean did about someone calling him a 'lucky bastard' and boy, the boiling that went through my head when I heard this assumption about my parents; I know exactly how he felt!

All the best of success to both of you! Keep kicking RE butt!

Oh,and the Evansville seller has come back to me with his duplex and fourplex. 100% owner financing; $40K price total for both of them. Sometimes putting something off and walking away from a deal is a GOOD thing. More on that later.

Love to hear how that went! I will also get back with you about the IRA loan! I have a flyer I put together for PML, haven't used it yet, but I like it. Maybe you'd like to see it.

Love to hear how that went! I will also get back with you about the IRA loan! I have a flyer I put together for PML, haven't used it yet, but I like it. Maybe you'd like to see it.

Love to hear how that went! I will also get back with you about the IRA loan! I have a flyer I put together for PML, haven't used it yet, but I like it. Maybe you'd like to see it.

don't know how that happened:(

I just read your posting about your childhood and found it very touching, inspirational, and something that many of us can relate to. You have come a long way and have many reasons to pat yourself on the back. Continue to disregard what other negative naysayers have to say. You have given motivation to so many newbies! I also read your posting of the meeting with the PML. Please let us know how it turns out, as I have recently started to prepare a package for prospective PML's. Also, do you mind telling us how you started this process? I started with flyers and a website to attract the PMLs.

Sorry about the double post...Not sure how that happened

Well, my presentation to the PML went well; but he wants to do JV partnering instead of loaning money. He's been wanting to invest in RE for years but hasn't taken the leap into it. So; I've got a great contact and he's ready to do a deal now. This is awesome!

Also, talked with a local small bank doing miraculous things for small business owners. Its looking good; but I don't want to get my hopes up yet because I've done that too many times!

I took a course on attracting private money lenders about a year ago. I've had this presentation and all the materials; and have been trying to get it set up so I can do presentations via the internet and phone because I can't get out too many places with the kids. But, now that I've given one presentation, I think I'm going to go to a REIC and see if they will let me do the presentation there. I was so comfortable doing the presentation because I know my busienss and what I do like the back of my hand! I was nervous for nothing. :8

With advertising for PML it is very important to stay SEC compliant; because the SEC is worse than the IRS. Don't want their attention! Best to get an SEC attorney to read over all literature an fliers before putting them out there. Basically, you can not 'offer' a security or an investment opportunity w/o qualifying someone. There is a post about it here: http://www.deangraziosi.com/real-estate-forums/financing-and-credit/3627... It starts at about post #20.

You need to market your company and what it does. Tell everyone you know that you are in the RE business and have deals and would like an opportunity to present what your company is about and teach them unique ways to invest their money. , but be very careful. Research SEC laws and find out information. Its never ok to say 'I'm looking for an investor'... big SEC no no!

Information is power, if you use it! Happy investing! It is CERTAIN we will SUCCEED!