Linda's (from Indiana) Journal

posting keeps me moving forward and keeps me accountable. that is huge for me. Chuck is actually thinking he will buy the 8-unit, i will be his REA and then maybe his property manager. he'll have to pay me very well. as i'm sure you know, property management is a big job. at least 8 units isn't like managing 100 units.

yes, i am ready for the deals to just line up and find me. i know it can and will happen and we can "never ever give up"! gee, i wonder where i've heard that before. thanks for reminding me that action really is what it's all about. better to take action and know it will work out, than to take none and wonder. i think i said that right.

i'm so glad it's Friday and hopefully i'll be starting fresh and new on Monday. nothing more on the complex but i would guess the broker is doing his best to find out the info i requested. no paperwork from my sellers again today, but i would figure he's missed a few days of work with this weather. Chuck keeps asking me about it, but today i told him i'm letting this drag out because it gives me a property i can legally market and i don't have to worry about it being a ghost ad. so, i'm helping myself as well as the sellers. i posted a couple ads again on CL and they were actually posted when i checked. i have now contacted 100 sellers and my average so far is not 25:1. i was trying to put all my tenant/buyer possibilities in a group in yahoo email so i can email them all at one time about this property i have under contract. for some reason it didn't work, so i'm not sure how to fix it. yahoo is not the best email, that is for sure, but it's what i have to work with right now. my kids are getting more snow in OK and we are supposed to get more tomorrow and all week next week. as if we need any more snow! i hope everyone has a great weekend!

Fruits and veggies, I am not sure but can you eat nuts. They are always a good source of energy too. Drink plenty of water and green tea. Make sure you are eating 6 small meals daily every 3 hrs then your energy level should stay and maybe you want even notice the missing sugar.

Can you do anytype of subsitute? I like splenda I tried Stevia but it did not taste so good. What do or can you use?

all the stuff i don't want to eat. i can eat nuts, but they do not satisfy me. i think my taste buds are so overloaded that it's hard to feel satisfied with much of anything. can't do the tea thing - ick! i drink lots of water, so at least i have that one down. i also eat more than 6 times a day, so do you mean i have to cut back? the only sugar substitute i like is Suzanne Somers' Somersweet, but it's awfully expensive. i'm hearing some good things about Truvia, so i might try that. Splenda is ok, but i'm not real confident in the health issue area with it. i have to warn you, i can be a real brat about my food!!! i have found that i tend to eat more when i'm not doing what i need to be doing with REI. if i'm busy working away, the food thing is less of an issue. so....i guess i know what i have to do. thanks for your suggestions.

i took the whole day off yesterday and didn't even turn my computer on. it felt so good. i really think i need to take the weekends off, enjoy them and do other things besides REI. i know the die hards won't agree with me, but i just get too involved and it becomes overwhelming. we were supposed to look at a rehab house yesterday at 3pm, had the lockbox code and had it on the calendar but....i was getting my hair done and in 3 hours we had 3+ inches of snow. i had to scrape all that off my car and the roads were bad. we decided to stay put once we got back home in the early afternoon. i hated not to go see it, but with 15" of snow around the property, it would have been a little tough anyway. i did find out that the property sold for $10,000 a year ago, but now it's listed for $23,900. seems a little off unless some work has been done on it. i do know there is a sign on the front door that says it's been winterized. we are supposed to get 1" of snow per day for the next week. it is supposed to snow all day today, which it did snow a couple hours, but now it seems to be done. we'll see how the day goes on. my kids are getting slammed again too. Jared is in the mountains in Afghanistan, February is supposed to be the worst winter month, and they have had warmer temps and rain, with very little snow. no more info on the apartment complex so i will have to check in with the broker tomorrow. a guy responded to my CL ad and asked if i would be interested in a property he's wholesaling and a woman emailed me about possibly being a T/B. i got to talk to Lea on Friday and that was fun. we talk about so many things and help each other with REI ideas. i don't know of any other guru out there that provides this for his students, and Dean, i just want you to know how much i appreciate what you are constantly doing for us. right at the same time her phone always hangs up on us, so we know our time is limited to a certain time frame. i think that means we are supposed to get back to work. can't wait to get started fresh tomorrow with REI again. i am hearing lots of investors working with L/O's are having quite a time finding willing sellers, but i still hear Richie's words "never ever give up" and it makes me want to push in all the harder. "we will succeed!" i think that is from Tammy, if i'm not mistaken. where else could i find such wonderful friends with the same mindset i have? one last note - a friend of mine trying to get into wholesaling got discouraged, but now he is back at it. we all have those times, but it's the never giving up and believing that get you through it. i told him about this website because i think it is one of the biggest "helps" we have getting things going. thanks everyone!!!

I enjoyed talking with you on Friday. We cover all the bases in our conversations Without Dean we wouldn't have ever talked and been able to learn and expand on our ideas and plans. One thing leads to another

I'm glad your wholesaling friend is back on track.

Maybe the seller of the property you mentioned is a buyer to add to your list?

Enjoy your day and have a great and successful week!!

Lea

the seller was just contacting me off one of my ads on CL. instead of me contacting him on a ghost ad, he came to me, then told me the property was gone and i could go to his website and leave my info. that is not the way to do it with me! he is a wholesaler trying to build his buyers list. just didn't go over well with me.

but, i did enjoy my weekend. thanks.

the weather and i are clearer today. we started the morning out with freezing rain, but it did clear up. now it's pretty clear out there. my brain seems to be a little clearer today too. i have been moving right along clearing things off my to-do list as i go. i finally filled out my rebate form for my new phone and got it in the mail. i renewed my forms on the MLS and tried to sign up for HUD, but my broker and his secretary forgot to give all the necessary information needed to do that. i contacted 5 more sellers and got one "maybe". my sellers sent back the 3 sets of paperwork i've been waiting on: 2 were correct and the same one i had problems with before was filled out the same way (wrong) again. talk about getting frustrated! i answered an email from a possible T/B from one of my CL ads. she answered me back saying she couldn't find the questionnaire anywhere in the email for her to fill out and send back to me. well, that would be because i forgot to attach it!. geesh!!! i mean really - duh! so i very nicely sent it to her. i'm sitting here thinking about my last couple accidents and wondering if they are affecting me more than i thought. Monday i blow up supper and Saturday i fell between the mattress and the footboard trying to clean the ceiling fan. i swear my head has not been involved in either incident, so no injuries there that i'm aware of. i also revamped and simplified my NCND contract because the other one was way too complicated for me. tomorrow i am going to fix my T/B lease a bit because of what Karen said in one of her posts. i like what she had to say about always showing at least $1.00 for the security deposit and making it look like a lease and not involving the option part. that is correct. i figured i don't have to be in a hurry to change it since my sellers are not being real cooperative. i'm also thinking about creating something simple to bring in some private money. my coach was very good about giving me ideas and help, and that was one area she helped me in. i would like to do rehabs and then L/O them out. i'm thinking an equity split might be very workable, but we will see. i'm just kind of thinking that i would like to own the properties. i read a lot yesterday and did some studying on various ways to get some deals coming in and rehabbing would involve Chuck. nothing back on the apartment complex, so i will be checking further with the broker. at least i feel like i'm back in the swing of things!

You and Chuck would make a great rehab team.

Oy Vey about the T/B's.

I'm sorry you fell while cleaning the ceiling fan - but at least you landed on something softer than the floor ... I get the feeling you move fast when you are doing these things.

Lea

yes, we would make a great team because we each have our specialties and we usually know where the boundaries are on that.

i'm beginning to think this is payback for teasing my dad all these years, like the time he stumbled down the stairs because he had one foot caught in the other pant leg. help!!! i don't move near as fast as i used to, but i can still do dumb stuff.

i just got the final paperwork from the sellers. the wife just sent me the old one and not the new one, but they owe almost $1000 more than they told me. gotta make sure they can pay off their loan, so that drops my fee. i won't do this again because i made some mistakes with not getting the paperwork first, but hopefully lesson learned.

i emailed my broker for his code so i could sign up with HUD and he emailed one that isn't valid. i'm not sure what to think, but this is not an unusual occurrence.

i was on my way to have blood work done this morning and had to turn around and come back home. it was snowing and there was a bad accident, plus the back road is blocked off, so i just decided to try again tomorrow. Chuck suggested just going later today, but this time i have to fast and i was so hungry i could have eaten my car, so tomorrow will have to do. this weather has really wreaked havoc. i emailed the broker about the 8-unit and he got right back to me. i guess my email went to spam. sounds like some possibilities there. i'll let Chuck see what he thinks. i placed 2 ads on CL and one was pulled - the one for sellers. i'll just do it again in a few days. i changed my rental agreement concerning the security deposit and sent it off to the sellers so they can see what i will be signing with the T/B's. i also sent a copy of the option to purchase agreement. i contacted 5 sellers and messed around a bit on HUD. i did manage to get signed up last night, but that was through trial and error. not much sleep last night so i am feeling it now. just trying to work my schedule every day and figure out new things i can do to make things happen. what am i missing?

Hey Linda, you are working it! Good news about the 8 unit and the brokers fast response to you. It would be so cool if you & Chuck get this property. You've been working hard with the T/B's and owner on this property and have gained a lot of experience in the process. You are reaching your goals one day at a time

Sleep well tonight.

Lea

hey, thanks for all your help getting me back in the swing of flylady. my kitchen is really shaping up right now. thanks for your encouragement too.

it's really pretty outside, despite the bitter cold. i managed to make it to the hospital for blood work quickly and i didn't even get to sit down in the waiting area. i was there around 7:30am so no one else was there and they took me right away. i usually get the same lady and she does a good job. my kids are getting snow in OK again, as is Erika. maybe some more time to work on REI. i contacted 5 more sellers. i've had some other things to work on and i also got more info on the 8-unit complex. they have a well and septic system, which just doesn't ring right around here. Chuck said they should have some kind of order making them change to city water and the system wouldn't be in very good working order because of its age. he knows lots more about this kind of stuff than i do. he called the health department and they told him he has to go online to check the information he needs. how can they get away with not just answering his questions??? he said every time we get more answers to our questions our price goes down. he thinks the owner knows these things have to be done, but if you can find the "right fool" to buy, you're off the hook. we are trying to set up a time to see it and they have 2 empty units we could look at. one unit has water damage and as far as the broker knows, it isn't being fixed. duh. in this weather??? i am building myself up to work on taxes on Friday. not my favorite thing to do and i keep going back and forth about who to use for my CPA. i like where i have gone before, but he charges about $100 more. my investor friend recommended the brother of the guy Chuck goes to and i think he is far more reasonable, but we'll see. i have talked to him on the phone and he seems to be a nice guy and my friend highly recommends him. i probably should go that route. i cleaned out over 100 emails last night and i plan on doing it again tonight. i am also planning on being on a webinar about commercial real estate investing tonight. it's supposed to be all information and no selling, but we'll see how that works out. i really like this guy and have met him in person, but he does like to talk. starting at 9pm he better hold my interest or i'll be ready for bed. i need to work on my websites, but i just drag my feet on that. i have 3 and i really tend to neglect them. shame! i'm not technical enough and i really struggle fixing/changing anything. i wish Jared was here to help me. he's very good at all that stuff. i need to take one thing per day and add it to my schedule and just work on it a little at a time. Lea reminded me about www.flylady.net and i am back with it little by little. it's mainly about getting your house in order and then using those same principles in other areas of your life. it is an excellent system and very helpful to me. i think i just answered myself on how to do what i need to do. good job (as my niece would say)!

my internet was down all morning and my landline. so i didn't get any real estate done at this point. i did manage to get on a webinar at noon concerning commercial REI, and it was good. not real in-depth, but thought-provoking. we wanted to see the 8-unit Saturday, but our broker said he's out of town this weekend. i have a feeling they just don't work on weekends. i'm running into more and more of that, and i can't say that i really blame them. i like my weekends too. next week i'm going to lower the price on the house i have under contract and advertise on some other websites i haven't used up until now. i want this house L/O'd and assigned to the sellers! it will satisfy all of us. tomorrow is a new day and i hope to have a better handle on it. i am scheduled to work on my taxes. i want those done and my refund back.

I hope your L/O goes through for you soon. I hope you get the 8 unit deal also.

Steve

thanks for stopping in. yes, i pray that deal goes through too. i want the sellers taken care of and out of my hair. the 8-unit is interesting, but might not be a good deal. just takes a lot of due diligence. commercial is a little different from residential, but still a good way to go. have you found another property yet?

We are always looking for that next deal. We would like to buy more homes in the small town where we bought the last deal. The weather has been so bad as you know so my bird dogs have been staying inside. I think when the weather gets better more people will want to sell or get out from under thier homes.

Steve.

that's the way to be. always thinking in terms of REI. yes, this weather has been terrible. now i remember why i wanted to move away. OK is even worse the last few years, but when i lived there we got one ice storm in January and that was about it. this past couple weeks they got around 15-20" of snow. ugh!

well, at least i had my internet and phone today. sometimes we don't realize how dependent we are on these things until we don't have them anymore. i managed to get started on my taxes. it was a slow start and now i'll have to start filling in the numbers and all, but that is just tedious, not hard. i will be placing some ads on CL before i'm done for the day. hopefully people will see them over the weekend. i did manage to contact 6 sellers, but i'm kind of running out of places online to look. i've contacted everyone possible. i don't have time today to write out 4 letters to expired listings. i guess i'll have to see about that next week. i did get an email from a seller that is interesting. i had emailed to ask if her house was available for rent to own and she was very nice and said they can't do that because they are moving out of town. she then asked if there was any way i could just buy the house. i sent her the information on what i do and told her i wished her the best with the house; if she doesn't sell it when she needs to i would be happy to work with her. i figured i'd never hear back from her. today i get an email asking me to call her this weekend so she can ask a lot of questions. i pray i have patience with her because i hate being grilled. i will have to be in control nicely. i found the 8-unit on a rent to own website, so he is willing to owner finance. i'll have to tell Chuck about it tonight. he wants an option fee of $9350 nonrefundable. i couldn't find out more because i didn't want to pay to register. i do have the owner's name though. i talked to Lea this morning and that was a big help. she reminded me not to be so hard on myself and to be pleased with the progress i make each day. i will be working on that from now on. i am making progress; i just tend to think it's never enough, but who's to say it isn't? thanks, Lea! have a great weekend, everyone! p. s. Gabby Hayes (me) now has over 3500 points. i sure wish i could use them toward going to EDGE 2011.

i'm so busy on the weekends and i'm trying to kind of stay away from REI, but it's really tough. i'm not complaining though; i do love it. i was supposed to call a lady today about my seller program. i had sent my information to her and she wants to ask me lots of questions. had to leave a message and told her to call me when she can. i have my gluten-free club meeting from 3p-5p today but we'll get together if she is still interested. while i was cleaning i got an interesting call from a broker. from everything i have heard through the years and the interaction i've had in the past with this guy, i was shocked. i had emailed one of his clients, not knowing the property was listed with him. i told him i'm a realtor and he asked who with and i told him that too. i said i was sorry for contacting her but i didn't realize the property was listed with him. basically the conversation ended with him saying that he would keep my information so he could work with me in the future if needed. i told him just a bit about what i do and he seemed interested. he also mentioned he has multiple streams of income so he will be fine during this economy. that's what we all need to learn to do too. it would be great to start working with a realtor or two, and i know it will all come. i want to get out this weekend to see my Omee Ct. house (the one i have the contract on) and see how much snow is built up. not sure where i could put a sign until it all melts.

it's hard to believe that February 2011 is half over. how do i keep up? i'm really working on scheduling my time better. i have some videos to watch from a couple gurus that should help me; now i need to find the time to watch them. i have been swamped today with trying to make a nice dinner for this evening. i have the roast and veggies in the crockpot. the eggs are cooling in the fridge for devilled eggs, which i'll do a little before dinner time. made the punch and just have to add lemon-lime pop before serving. i made margarita jello for dessert and just have to rake through it with a fork before serving. i'm not a great menu planner, but Chuck will be surprised with what i've done and he'll enjoy it. i contacted 5 sellers today and i would love to start getting some deals really working. i had a call from a possible T/B over the weekend and got in touch with her this morning. she "seems" like the ideal candidate and she wants to see the Omee Court house on Friday morning, so we set up an appointment for that. hopefully the snow will be melted enough that we can get in the house. i was going to lower my price a little today, but i think i'll see how things go this week. the possible T/B said they have $3000 now for the option fee and can get another $3000-4000 together in a couple months. have to think creatively here. the seller wife emailed asking if i had anyone interested and i was able to tell her about that. i just always remind her not to get her hopes up too much in the beginning. i tried to call a seller at her request over the weekend. she tried to call me back but her phone would not recognize my prefix of 255. is that weird? i've never heard of that before. anyway, we're trying to set up an appointment for 5:30pm tomorrow night. i'll have to go alone because Chuck will be tied up, but for the first time, my head started thinking about my safety. i'm not one to usually think of that, but i think Chuck has just grilled that into my brain. i will definitely let Chuck know the address, time, etc. so he can be aware. i just never think like that and it bothers me. when i went to see that house a couple weeks ago, i didn't think that at all. i did want to make sure it was still daylight though, if at all possible. i'm sure they are decent working folk and i'm being weird. you know, i have to do this on my own and i have my pepper spray. of course, i'll try not to use it on myself. i talked to Lea today to go over some things and it was a nice surprise. i still want to work on my taxes a little yet today. i'm learning to do things in 15 minute increments, such as clearing clutter in my office again. i'm not sure what kind of issue i have with an organized office, but i will master it! i got to talk to Jared yesterday while we were getting groceries. it's hard to talk to him as it is because he can't tell me anything, then grocery shopping on top of it does not help. and i usually have no problem talking to anyone! i hope you all have a wonderful day of love!

How sweet of you to make such a delicious meal for Chuck. Hope you both had a happy Valentines Day!

That's good news about the T/B. Keep up all the fantastic work you are doing!!

Glad you got to talk with Jared yesterday and glad that you & I got to talk. I always enjoy our 'meeting of the minds.' We are going to look at that property today.

Have a great day!

Lea

well, i like to keep Chuck on his toes. one day i'm blowing supper up, the next i'm making a nice dinner. he never knows what to expect when he comes home.

can't wait to hear how things went at the property. gee, are you an REI or what???

first of all, if any of you received an inappropriate email from my work email, please forgive me. i did not send it. apparently some type of virus causes that to happen and i hope i have taken care of the issue. it's disgusting to say the least and hopefully it is now gone.

i got a good start on my day today and just breezed right through everything. i contacted 5 more sellers today. i feel like i'm running out of places to find sellers, but i keep hanging in there. i got a call from a prospective tenant/buyer this morning. the bankruptcy was discharged a year ago and they should be able to apply for a loan in November. she has seen my ads on CL and wasn't interested in the Omee Court house. i got a call from another prospective T/B last night for a town about a 1/2 hour from here. i have sent both of them my questionnaire and we'll see if i get them back. i just got a call from the out-of-town one and she hasn't been able to send it to my email, so i gave her an alternative email address and my fax #. she must be interested because she has tried 2 computers and is on the way to the library to try that one. that makes me feel bad because now i don't know what is up with my email on that end. she is replying to the email i sent her so it shouldn't be an issue. i will scan my computer again when i get done posting here. i need to actually start looking for houses that my T/B's want. i think i have gotten side-tracked into just trying to find sellers, which is okay, but i have to be more specific too. takes me a little while to get the hang of things. then i can actually tell sellers that i may have a T/B that is interested in their home and that makes it far more interesting to them.

i still have my meeting tonight at 5:30pm with a couple sellers to see their house and tell them about my program. this should be interesting. at least they invited me to their home and i'm not just cold calling or anything.

i did work some on my taxes and what little headway i make is satisfying. i also cleaned the big stack of papers off that were on my file cabinet in the office. i have a little more to do, then i can actually clean my office. i have to do better with finding a place for these things from the very beginning; it's a lot easier to work in a clean office. i was never like that when i worked a job, so i'm not sure why working from home makes such a big difference.

my dinner last night went well and it was a nice surprise. as Chuck says, he never knows what he's coming home to.

just got back from meeting with the sellers and it was a wonderful meeting. their home is rustic and beautiful, like walking into a lodge. they want to downsize and cannot really sell with a realtor. i seem like the answer they are looking for. i left a couple documents with them to look over and see what they want to do. the husband was filling out the property information sheet as we talked. that cracked me up (to myself). they seem like really nice people who need a way out of their current situation. they also need to find a home to move into, so i mentioned that i would be happy to help them with that as a realtor. if they cannot get a loan for whatever reason, then i said i would help them find a L/O. they seemed happy to hear that. anyway, i'm pumped because it was just a really nice experience for me and i got to meet 2 very nice people. we shall see what comes of it, but she told me they would get right back to me once they talk about it and read over what i left for them. i also recommended my mortgage broker so they can talk to her about getting a loan on a new (to them) house and having their old house rented. they had some good questions and i was able to answer them all. i also told them to call/email if they have any other questions. i just really enjoyed the time i spent with them. i hope they felt the same.

Congrats on the great meeting today. I saw your post on Facebook, so I had to pop in here to read all about it. Glad to see things are moving forward for you. Good luck moving forward.

thanks for stopping by and thanks for the encouragement. i love it when i meet really nice people. how are things going for you with L/O's? i'm a little behind on my journal reading lately. i need to take some time and catch up with everyone. i know whatever deals you are doing, you are doing a great job!