Deshone's Million Dollar Wholesale Business Journal

It sounds like you are off to a great start! Congratualtions for joining Dean's Success Academy. The program and coaches will get you on the fast track for real estate investing. Congratulations for starting your journal it is a great way to keep yourself accountable and share your insight and knowledge with other DG Members. The DG website is packed with information and inspiration. You may want to consider joining a local real estate investment club to network with other investors if there happens to be one in your area. Try to do a little each day to get you closer to your goals and dreams. Good luck with real estate investing. Believe and Achieve! - Joe

Thanks for the insight Joe, you're awesome and I'm calling the names I got for the investment clubs tomorrow. Should I find out how many members before I pay to join. Don't want to join and be the third person on the team. Is there a number that should be the minimum. Thanks for the encouragement and God bless you brother!!

I always believe that any number more than 1 member would be good. Look at various clubs in your area and see which may be the best fit. The great thing is one good refferal from a club member or one key contact they share with you is worth so much more than the cost of the monthly club fees. Good luck! You can do it! Believe and Achieve! - Joe

Had to make a little adjustment after seeing the name of Joe's journal. Sorry about that Joe even though one day prayerfully our journals will look similar. Lol. So quick question everyone. I met this very nice gentleman who is a mortgage banker. He came into my job looking for a car and we chatted(is that a word) for a long time. Turns out hes been in the business for 30+ years and a mortgage banker for Wachovia(now Wells Fargo) and he just switched companies shortly after the acquisition. He's definitely known in the industry and knows a ton of people. Is this a good person to know right now and how should I cultivate our relationship? Any input is appreciated. God bless!!!

God bless

I'll tell you what. As much as Real Estate Investing is new and somewhat uncomfortable, when you start to take action, marvelous things happen. I called my first investor today who responded to my ghost ad on craigslist and had a great conversation. He's actively looking for property now and him and his dad have several. I got all the criteria from type of property to equity and it was a lot smoother than I thought. He was very easy to talk to and he felt I was really doing him a great service. He can close within 60 days through a loan or depending on the price, cash. Quick question, I know the houses out here are somewhat higher priced $100,000 to $300,000+ but I asked how much equity he was looking for and he said 80K. Is this realistic or should I keep him towards the bottom of my buyers list. Either way I am excited to see how simple the process was.

I've also been opening my mouth to everyone letting them know what I do even though I don't know if there is an actual term besides bird-dog. Is there a difference between bird-dogging and doing assignment deals? Found someone who's a developer who said he buys property but he turned around started to ask me if I had buyers for his properties. Is this someone to know or what? He's looking for buyers, not actively buying property right now.

When you think about it, if I had the cash I would love for a serious person to offer to find me deals where I just lay out the money without doing a lot of the leg work to find it. Anyways, I look forward to everyone's input. God bless!!!

Ok, so I haven't posted in the journal in a while, but and that's a big but I have been building my buyer's list. I am up to 3 serious buyers that are ready to buy now. One's criteria is a little more detailed, but that's ok. What works is Craigslist ghost ads. I've created a ton of attention from these ads.

Also, while letting people know that I buy real estate, I ran into a RE Developer that works in the city that a lot of my investors buy in. He has a great relationship with the city and they give he gets property dirt cheap(really,really dirt cheap) and they give him money to fix them up. So I told him what I was looking for last thursday, which is what two of my investors are looking for and price range. He sent me a text today saying he found a 3 family for what I want. Yes!!!! We are meeting tomorrow to look at the place, so I will be calling the Academy to get tips on taking this on. I have the investor, Lord willing tomorrow I may have the property, then it's just the small details of connecting the two. Oh Happy Days!!!!

Even if you take baby steps, you'll make progress. Alright family, I'm going to need some feedback on this one. God bless us all!!!!

Ok, so after looking at a potential property that fit my investors criteria, I didn't know how to put them together. Thank God for the Success Academy. I reached out to them and found out, I need to qualify my investors more and also request proof of funds.(A little unclear how to do that, do I ask for bank statements or what?) Also, I am in the process of locating a real estate agent working in the Essex County area. I have been letting people know I'm buying property and developing a great relationship with the RE Developer in Newark. He's going to introduce me to an agent he knows who may or may not be the agent I'm looking for, but he has a ton of connections. Slowly but surely, it's moving. The slowly comes from the fear of the unknown and new things, but the more we move forward the faster we will eventually move. Sometimes you have to step back and look from the outside at what you need to focus on because it is easy to get overwhelmed. God bless everyone!!!

Its been a while since my last journal post, but thanks to the Lord revealing some things to me I am focused on my Real Estate investing goals. It seems like as soon as you make a decision to succeed in real estate, you are immediately bombarded with all types of other things in an attempt to take your focus off your decision. Thats ok though. I have reminders around me everyday like my wife, daughter, bills, bank account and my job, just to name a few.

In the process I've formed a great relationship with a developer that works in my area that gets property dirt cheap from the city and is looking for buyers. I have to find a realtor in that area to know if and when I have a great deal. With what he buys them for I know they're great deals but I don't have comparables to judge. The motto moving forward is Yarnell's Law 1. Do one thing at a time. 2. Do it right. 3. Finish it! Lord help me

Next step: Find the right real estate agent.

The developer I work with had me come over to see a property he had available and they were asking 65K. It needed at least 40k worth of work.(That's what he said) How do I know how much work a property needs to know what to offer? Anyways, I called an investor that I had spoken with and he was asking for the address. I would like to assign the property, not receive a finder's fee but I didn't want to put it under contract without a solid investor.

This is why I need a realtor, so that I can know exactly what I am dealing with and lock the property up. I'm finding some of the investors I'm contacting are actually bird doggers for cash buyers. Don't really know what to make of this. I guess these are the challenges of the beginners. It's all good though.

WooWee it seems like you have learned alot in a very short time. Thank you for posting your journey b/c it allows the rest of us to learn with you.

Now I have a question for you; you stated that you called the Advisor line and then you said you talk to the coach from Success Aca. are they one and the same? Do you get an Advisor when you are in the academy or can anyone call the adivsor line? I will be join the academy this month. Just wondering.

Please, NEVER give out the property's address unless and until you have a contract signed by both parties (yourself and the investor). That address is your money in the bank. If you give it out without a contract in place, the other party can walk away with the deal without any further involvement on your part. You could end up not receiving a cent for your work.

Also, a few posts back you wrote " I don't know if there is an actual term besides bird-dog. Is there a difference between bird-dogging and doing assignment deals?" Yup. Doing assignments makes you a wholesaler.

Erika, to answer your question, yes the advisory line is the same as the Academy. It's the best thing in the world. Not only the coaches but the training you receive is second to none. It's the best thing you can do for your REI career. Just take it one step at a time as fast as you can without getting overwhelmed. I got overwhelmed, but that's ok. I'm back in the saddle. God bless you on your journey and keep your DG Family posted.

Thanks a bunch Cindy for the great advice. I will keep this in mind as I'm on my search for properties and investors. I definitely want to be a wholesaler, not a bird-dog, not that I have anything against them, but I believe I'll make more wholesaling. Thanks again and God bless you!

Yeah thnx for posting your journal. Im learning a lot thru Dean books (got the hard copies today but i had access to the PDF formats.) I also want to start off doing wholesales or Greg Murphy strat. I wanna enroll in the academy but fear it might be too much for me...Im 19 years old no credit and have mayb a couple of thousand saved...will i be able to enroll???

Good luck with your deals!!!

You will be able to enroll and it's the best investment I've ever made. Imagine having a team of seasoned investors that are there to walk you through the process of making money. The books give the direction and you get to leverage over 100 years of investor experience. Don't be afraid. Making money will never be convenient but if you block out everyone who is going to criticize you, you can change your life by the time most people are graduating college. May the Lord bless you on your journey. Keep us posted.

So I went out today looking for "ugly houses" and here are the results of driving for about an hour and a half. Maybe a 10 block radius.
16 "ugly houses"
3 "for rent signs"
1 "boarded up house" on a nice block
1 "damaged by fire" on a nice block
1 FSBO

I was excited to see how many there were, but I need to know how to get the owner information to reach out to them.

Also I called an ad that said "I'll Buy Your House" Spoke with an investor that is looking to move into my area. We talked and he told me about some other deals he's done in different counties and said he can close in 3 weeks or less. When I called him he asked was I a wholesaler. Should my answer be yes?

Anyways, I've gotten great responses from ghost ads on craigslist(have to weed out the spam and garbage, but that's ok). My only hangup is when someone contacts me on the property within hours of posting it. How do I respond when they ask about it?

I enjoyed the day and I am looking forward to the responses from you seasoned one or even not so seasoned. I believe you can learn from everyone. I'm excited about this month and I know that first deal is very, very close. God bless!!!

So I started today excited about the upcoming months because I know we're coming close to that first deal. Today I learned about the tax assessor/collector's office and what it takes to find out that info. They said that to make it easy, just bring my list of properties and I can look in the book there. I just tested it over the phone on one property even though I have about 20, but I didn't want to keep the woman tied up for an hour trying to help me, so I got the address and will go down Friday morning(my only morning off)

In the meanwhile a great friend of mine gave me the name of a Real Estate Attorney that he says does nothing but closings. I don't really know what I'm looking for in an attorney at present, but I know I will eventually need a great one, so I have his information handy. I don't know if it matters that he doesnt live in my area, he's about 20 miles away in a neighboring county. Should I work with someone who is in my area?

Plan of action is to call every name I've gotten off of bandit signs and see if they are serious buyers (some are other wholesalers).

Also I must find or come up with a letter to send to the owners of properties that are unmaintained to see if they would like to sell. Need help on this one.

Anyways, I've got my eye on the prize and I will not look back. I must succeed for my family and my freedom!!! God bless

Alright!!! A little hiatus and I felt a little all over the place but a call into the Success Academy fixed that in a hurry. A friend of mine gave me the name of a real estate agent and I contacted him today. He knows the area and is hungry. Says he has no problem making multiple low offers and moving on if they're not accepted or suggesting other avenues. We had about an hour long conversation and I told him what I intend to accomplish and he was right in line with my vision.

He sent me some properties to just take a look at what's out there. Also i'll be starting some marketing techniques with bandit signs in the next couple of days once I finish reading this chapter in Dean's book.

Moving forward! I believe as long as I take action, the chips will eventually fall into place. The Law of Sowing and Reeping never disappoints.

I'm sure you know by now that your posts are a blessing.
It is strangely comforting and inspiring hearing about somebody who is starting out, just like me.
Your journals give me the fire to put one step in front of the other, just like you.
So thank you. Maybe one day we can both trade funny stories about how things "seemed" so difficult back in the day.
In the meantime, keep moving.

Of course we will. With any new thing in life there is some discomfort and hesitancy in certain areas because we're constantly second guessing ourselves, but once we knock some deals down, it will be so much smoother. Look at the day you started your job. In orientation and training, there was probably so much anxiety and tension, but fast forward and you can do that same job with one hand tied behind your back. The learning curve is short with Dean, DG.com and the Academy!! May God keep you on your journey towards wealth and a better life. Stay Encouraged!

Deshone

Sorry I haven't been here everyday, but I'm in other posts to questions I need specific answers to questions.
So it has been an eventful last couple of days. I'm forming a wonderful business relationship with my agent. First member of my power team and today we had the opportunity to chat and go over the exact strategies that I'm going to be using(assignments). Had to give him some details about it and let him know that he's not dealing with any shisters. (I'm sure that's spelled wrong).

Now he gave me the inside scoop on this property that he found out about. It's not being listed with a realtor, but he found out through a lady that works at the bank that its in pre-foreclosure and the lady has it listed as a for sale by owner. The lady at the bank said they'll take 150K Cash. Meanwhile, my agent pulled some comps and houses in that neighborhood sold for 300K within the past 6-9 months. Tomorrow I'm going to find out if and how much work it needs. I drove past it tonight and got out and walked around the house. Even though it was dark it doesn't look like it needs major work. Now the inside might be another story but this is truly the ugly house on an absolutely beautiful block. If we can get into that property for under 200K, this is a monster deal.

My only concern is the only resource I have right now are some buyers and a real estate agent. My first investment club meeting is Wednesday night. What needs to be in place for this deal to go from A to Z? Also, the woman at the bank said it has to be CASH. I'm excited to know all I have to do is drive the neighborhood. This lets me know to hit the streets. I would have seen that for sale by owner sign, but that's okay. There's so much more to come. So how do we make this happen family? I think a call to the Success Academy is needed.

Tonight I attended my first investment club, Garden State REIA. Loved every minute of it, learning from the different perspectives and the speaker, Tony Youngs, shared some great information, one tip was always have 2 buyers looking at your property at one time, if it's a great deal, they'll start bidding against each other. Great stuff! I met some wonderful new people and got 4 investors' cards. I'll call them tomorrow and find out what they're buying. Even though I am new I felt very comfortable in that meeting. I can see my self doing 2-3 deals per month and being the one sharing the tips or being the one people look to for advice.

With anything new, there is some hesitancy because you are no longer in your comfort zone, but as Tony Youngs said tonight, "at some point in this business, you have to learn to be bold and aggressive." I'm in for life so I'm happy to learn every facet of RE investing and it's good to make money on the way. We earn as we learn in this business. Deal #1 is coming!!!! God bless!

Deshone

I told Elena that I am falling in love with Real Estate, especially after that REIA meeting yesterday. Anyone in Northern NJ should definitely join the GSREIA. Anyways, today I focused on finding out when and where the sheriff sales are in the counties around me. I found out that there's one today in the county I work in(Morris) at 2 pm. I'm going to take my lunch break late(thank God I'm in sales) and go up there. The Essex County auction is Tuesday, which is my day off at 1:30 and Union County is Wednesday at 2. As long as I can regularly make 2 out of 3, I am happy. Today I knoooowww I'm going to the next level. I'm building my buyers list to over 40 before I narrow it down to a good 10-15 serious active buyers.

I ran a ghost ad on Craigslist earlier this week and got so many calls, its ridiculous. My belief is so strong right now, I thank the Lord for surrounding me with the right people that will play a role in the outcome He has for me. I know it will be a win-win because I'm looking to add value to everyone's life I come in contact with. I will be back after the auction for the update.

Wooowwww!! Just got back to work from the sheriff sale and I did not want to leave. Being around all those other investor's was right where I want to be all the time. I almost forgot I was on my lunch break, but and that's a big but, I didn't leave before I introduced myself to 3 investors and got their information. Excited is an understatement, knowing that if I would have had more time, I could have talked with everyone there. Also, saw an investor from the GSREIA whose card I got last night.

It's time to start qualifying my buyers to narrow the list down to 10-15, then I'll start shopping.

P.S. Last night at the GSREIA, they asked who here has deals that they'd like to sell. Two people stood up and wasn't even excited about the deals he had, and he said in some lame voice, "they won't last long". It's just proof that even though deals are out there, most people don't know how to find and market a killer deal like Dean teaches us. These guys didn't have their ducks in line. It's all good though. Deal #1 is Coming FAST!!!

Deshone

I just totaled up the possible buyers from ghost ads, bandit signs, my investment club meeting and my visit to the auction today and I have a total of 48. Now once I qualify them, I'm sure that will go down but it gives me a lot of confidence going forward that I will have that 15 I want. Once we have that buyers list rolling, we'll be on our way to some serious CA$H!!!! YEEAAAAHHHH!!!! God Bless!!

Well, today was eventful. Last Thursday I attended my first Foreclosure Auction and today I went to one in another county closer to me. It was great to be in the room and I exchanged cards with five people, one of which was a broker that works with Multi-Families, one was a pretty seasoned RE Agent, but he said he was an investor also, an investor that works with short sales who is really looking for buyers right now, and two were on a POWERHOUSE TEAM!!! There were three guys together and they did most of the buying there. I approached one and introduced myself and said I find deals 30,40, and 50% off of fair market. One of the investors said, if you have anything give me a call, we buy over 100 properties per year. In my mind I said WOW!!!! 100 properties per year.

The other two went to finalize paper work I guess and I had a conversation with the third. Told him I'm in West Orange and it ended up being about 1 minute driving from their office. So he asked if he could ride with me and we had about a 20 minute ride to that location where he filled me in a little more about what they do. They definitely have a lot of buying power and they buy most of their property through auctions. I'm excited about having the opportunity to work with them and prayerfully the relationship will grow into something bigger. But first we'll do a couple of deals together.

He also said he has a friend who's interested in getting a bunch of REO's and wanted to know if there was anyway I could produce a list of Bank REO's. He wants to pick up 20-30 and he can provide proof of funds, I just need to deliver the list and we will work out a deal. Now this was something totally new to me that I had no idea about. I'm trying to learn fast because I'm starting to feel like I'm leaving a lot of $ on the table.

I'm a little nervous and I don't want to make the wrong move, but I'm trying to keep moving. I still have yet to qualify my list of buyers because everyone's asking me if I have something now or have I done any past deals. I've just been telling them that I'm an excellent marketer and my strategies can find the deals. I almost want to go find the deals then find the investors but I have heard that is backwards.

Does anyone have any advice on qualifying investors? That's my last step before I can go shopping for deals. Thanks all and sorry this one was a long one. I have a lot on my mind. God bless!!

Deshone

Sorry I haven't posted in a couple days. I have been on the site everyday, but sometimes I need questions answered and I have to go to that topic.

I have a client that bought a car from me who is a mega-successful RE Investor in Northern NJ. He's been talking to me about buying my first investment property. He introduced me to his mortgage broker, who is very seasoned in the business. He has a long history of every type of mortgage deal you could imagine and knows what the banks will and won't do and other ways to get the deal done. We have an appointment tomorrow to get the ball rolling and see what I need to do to get an investment property under my belt. He said I should be looking at property in a 300K+ neighborhood that I can get at 40-50% off. Put some money into it and make a great move. Maybe hold, may flip.

If I buy a property for about 160K, put about 30K into it and it appraises for almost 300K, how can I pull money out of it? I'd be looking to pick up some more properties and have some cash to do it.

The ball is moving, I look at what I knew and what I was doing 1 month ago and a lot of things have happened since then. The Lord is blessing and the best is yet to come.

Deshone

I just received an email from my RE Agent with a bunch of MLS properties. I told him the criteria was single or multi family in a certain area that we can get for 50-65% of FMV. I don't know what this is he sent me. They're just houses and prices. This is what throws me.

GREAT! one more person in your arsenal.