Linda's (from Indiana) Journal

glad to hear from you. your referral fee idea is great, but because i am a realtor, i am not legally allowed to pay a referral fee to anyone but licensed realtors. i hate that law, but not much i can do about it. there is only place i have been able to find where i can post flyers, and i do that. i like your idea about church and engaged couples. that might work out well. thanks for the input.

i'm doing better today, but it's been a trial. i talked with my mentor on L/O's today and he gave me good ideas. i feel like i've been doing everything wrong. he did tell me that getting 30 calls in 1 1/5 weeks is really good, so at least my sign is right. he wants me to offer rent credits, but i am not comfortable with that. IN is very weird about those and i don't want to make things more confusing for everyone, including myself. you also have to give the rent credits whether they pay on time or not. rent credits have to be added to the price of the house, so when the house has no equity in the first place, how can i add more to it? he said i should be making 20 cold calls per day - my favorite. he also told me that the rent for the first house is way too high and i need to get the sellers to lower it considerably. they may have to get a little more desperate. i emailed them Monday about lowering the rent and never got an answer. i will give it a little more time, then say something again. had to do some work on my transfer papers for the new agency. i guess i forgot to sign it and the RE Commission was kind enough to call me and told me how to do an easy fix. duh!!! i never even saw where i needed to sign. i think i'm too exhausted and too stressed right now, so i need to take a step back and get my act together. i cannot be emotionally involved with all this!! i ran comps on the triplex a guy called me about and i was very honest with him. he bought the place for $4500 and i don't think any work has been done on it. there are some delinquent taxes plus taxes due. in the area it's in it won't be worth much fixed up and i ran some comps on it. i told him i could probably get him $1000-2000 more than he paid for it, but i want it under contract first and then will send it out to my investors, with the understanding that i'm looking for an end buyer and that end buyer will pay me a fee. so far, no word from him. but, at least i took the chance. Lea called me and we had a good long talk, then i had to cut it short to take a call from a prospective T/B. he works here and his family lives in MI. they have lived apart for 4 years, seeing each other 3 days/month. he has a foreclosure and a bankruptcy that won't be discharged for 2 years. he was very honest with me and i like to help honest people. i am sending him a questionnaire to fill out so i know how to help him, along with pictures on the Reed house. i may show it to them next weekend when his wife comes down here. now, to top everything else off, i got a letter from a lender. i won't go into a lot of detail, but i did not send my signature with the offer. it goes back to not having all the documentation i was supposed to have from the wholesale group and i thought something wasn't right, but i took the plunge and sent it anyway. well, this bank is about an hour from here and they sent me a letter saying they were surprised to receive my unsigned offer on a property that did sell for cash. and then he says i have other properties, call me. how do you like that? even though i did it wrong, i got a very nice reply. of course the guy probably thinks i'm crazy, but so what?? then i got an email from a commercial broker that i wasn't supposed to get. it asked if that was everything i needed. i emailed the broker back and told him i wasn't supposed to get that, but send me information on the property. he did. this one's been for sale for a long time, it's 10-units and the seller wants $500,000 for it. i have also talked to the seller in the past and she's quite "interesting", to say the least. but, never miss an opportunity. i'm laughing at all my mistakes this week (they really aren't that funny) and just trying to move on. with good investor friends like Lea, Richie and the rest of you, i can move forward, laugh at myself and still have some fun. thank goodness!!!

i changed my ads today and did not put any financial information in them. i have gotten several calls on both houses today and set up an appointment to show them both on Sunday. i guess my mentoring call was worth it yesterday. i asked my first sellers again to lower the rent, but they have refused. they may have to move back into the house before long and said they would let me know what happens. i'm sad to hear about the rent because i think we could get it rented at a much lower rate, but i won't argue the point. i realized that i am getting overwhelmed by almost successfully completing these deals all the way and having a bank that wants to work with me. i know it sounds crazy, but it hit me that i have worked so long at this and now it's almost come to fruition and i don't know how to handle it. i've heard this happens to others, but i never thought it would happen to me. i'm not sure what to think about that. it's kind of like last year when i told 2 investor friends "what if i actually get a house?" duh. but, that is kind of where i'm at. something i have to work on and get past. it's funny how our emotions and other things get in our way. but, i won't quit and i won't be defeated. i just have to change me.

i had a hard time getting up, but once i did i got busy. i feel better today and i hope i continue to improve. i had several calls i needed to return on both houses, so i got that done. had to leave a couple VM's, but i left my email address too. i also got another inquiry on that general ad i ran a few weeks ago for a duplex. i emailed the guy again about doing a contract with me and to either let me know we're moving forward, it's sold or he doesn't want to work with me. i offered them an awesome deal so i see no reason for them not to do it, but you know how people are. i also got confirmation on showing the houses tomorrow and the one owner is so excited. this will be the first showing i've done on either house. running those ads the way my mentor told me to is making a big difference on inquiries, especially on the first house. unfortunately, the high rent is an issue. what i'm thinking is if i can get someone who has some extra money to put down, i will just tell them to put that money toward making the higher rent payment. sounds easy to me. i would rather not give it to the sellers just in case something were to happen and then that money wasn't there to cover the extra rent. hope you all are having a great Saturday.

remember the bank that sent me the letter a couple days ago mentioning my unsigned offer? got another letter from them today with 4 properties they are willing to sell for $4000-6000 each. they are not in the best area of town, but lots of rentals in that area. i emailed my REI group to see if they are interested in looking at these properties. if not, i'll see what i can do myself. the bank almost sounds a little desperate, considering they don't know me from Adam and i sent in an unsigned offer. crazy!

i was slow getting started again (what is new lately?). Lea happened to call and the timing was just right. i really think i needed that call. still figuring out my way in REI. then i had to go to the eye doctor and it took forever. i went to a new place and was very pleased with the service, etc. my eyes are dilated and i'm a little nauseous being on the computer, so i may not make a lot of sense. i called the guy i was supposed to show both houses to yesterday. i called him 10 minutes before i was going to leave and i could tell he was in a restaurant. he and his wife had changed their minds and didn't have the decency to call and cancel. if i hadn't called them first, i would have been left waiting for them. what has happened to common courtesy and professionalism? i was not happy about that at all. so, be sure to confirm before you go to show someone a house, meet with them, etc. i had not heard back from the guy with the rental i saw last week, so i emailed him this morning. he said the contracts are signed and he will fax them tomorrow. we'll see if i can help this guy out. sellers want way too much for their properties in this market, but i'm just dumb enough to see what i can do. still getting lots of calls on my properties, but nothing serious. how do i change that? something to seriously think about. we haven't heard from Jared since last Thursday. he's probably out on missions and will be back any day. i am a huge fan of the TV show "Army Wives" and yesterday's episode was a tough one. a son was killed in Afghanistan and he reminds me of one of my sons-in-law. i usually do not get emotional over shows, but that one tore me up. at least he wasn't on the bomb squad. i better go before i drive myself more nuts by typing.

i feel so happy when i get to spend the entire day at home working from my office. i just set up a dinner appointment with a girlfriend from high school. we haven't seen each other in 35 years, then met again over facebook. it's about time we meet each other in person again. set up an appointment on Friday at 3pm to look at the 4 houses the bank sent over. he asked what kind of group i was in and seems very willing to work with investors. i'm not much for hiding the truth and just told him straight out. i went to the eye doctor yesterday and was gone 3 1/2 hours, but i ordered contacts, sun glasses and regular glasses. i haven't been able to wear contacts for several years because i couldn't see well enough out of them, but we are going to try some new ones. hopefully it all works out for me; i miss them. the doctor has a little concern about the time i spend on the computer, but doesn't just about everyone? i may have to wear reading glasses over my contacts at times, but i can live with that. i'm getting calls every day on both my L/O houses and talking to some really nice people. some of them really need some help too. i do what i can and make myself available to them. i'd really like to get them in these 2 houses and move on. the seller on my 3rd house forgot his paperwork and will fax it tomorrow. he really just wants it sold so i'm going to see if i can do that for him. with all this stuff going on, something has to come to fruition!! i demand it. i would hate to have to start throwing a temper tantrum right here and now. i did my best to just concentrate on one thing, but it has not worked out that way. i'm doing my best to be open to whatever opportunities come my way and help others in the process.

i had to go have bloodwork done first thing this morning, so i got up at 7am, drove to the hospital real quick and was the only one there. i went to sit down and they called my name. i was probably there about 5 minutes, which is the way i like it. the drive is probably less than 10 minutes each way. i got the contracts from my new seller and he had me a bit confused. we finally decided to just see if i can "flip" his turn-key rental. i think the price is too high, but we have some room to work and i hope to help him quickly. i have had several calls each day on both L/O properties, but nothing serious. they sound serious over the phone, then you never hear from them again. what else am i doing wrong? unfortunately, when you are dealing with over-leveraged properties, you don't have a lot of negotiating room. the payments can be too high because they borrowed a lot on the home and owe too much as well. i think people here have a hard time grasping what a rent to own is and how to work it. i have to explain it on every call. but, it appears that i can get the properties under contract. now i just need to be able to finish the deals. i've been trying to set up viewing those 4 properties on Friday, but i may be the only one. if so, i will change the appointment. i need at least one other person's input on these deals. i hope to know something by tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest. i got my taxes taken care of. my refund was in my account this morning and i have my IN taxes ready to mail tomorrow. i always get a return receipt, so i will have to take care of that tomorrow and then it can be sent. hopefully my return from my 2009 amended return will be mailed soon to me. that would be nice. i got such a little 2010 return that paying my CPA and IN taxes out of it has pretty much used it up. i finally cleaned out the rest of my files and now i can fit things in the cabinet much better. i still have a lot of shredding to do and you can only do a little at time, but that won't be a big deal. i burned up the shredder Jared bought me years ago. we still have not heard from him; it's been almost a week. he said with nicer weather they are busier. my son-in-law opened an email with a virus in it and it has really messed up my daughter's computer. since she uses it for working from home, she has to have a computer. if they can't fix it, she is going to buy a MAC. i'm so jealous!! i don't think i mentioned that my 5-year old granddaughter scored 3 soccer goals on Saturday. soccer is big in our family and i wish i was able to see her games. i used to help out with Jared's teams and i really enjoyed it. i was on facebook and saw that my daughter had mentioned the game. we got on the subject of me telling Jared's friends "when i was a professional soccer coach (doctor, sports trainer, etc.). they always believed whatever i would say and it would drive my kids nuts. i loved it and we still laugh about it. bad momma!!! okay, well i guess i should get back to REI. we are going to see Armando Montelongo on Sunday. we don't want to be involved with his coaching or anything, but since we always watched him on "Flip This House", we thought it would be fun to see and hear him in person. we'll see how that all plays out. i sent 2 possible rehabs over to Chuck today. he is working so much lately and i keep finding all these "jobs" for him to do. he isn't thrilled about it. we talked about how insecure his job is and if he would just get something started on the side, it wouldn't be as big a concern. but....i think he is afraid to take the chance. we would work very well together but....maybe he's very afraid of working with me???

i had to run some errands today so i haven't been home too much. i did get the new contract from the seller, so i am ready to set that up and market it. see what kind of interaction/responses we get. it would make a very nice rental or even a first home for someone. i set up an appointment to show both houses on Saturday for L/O's. this lady had called me over a month ago and then was very sick. she found me again on CL. the seller husband of the first property called last night and it looks like they have a T/B they found on their own. i have a feeling they are using my documents, which they signed a contract not to use, but what can you do? i had to drop off the key today to a neighbor so the prospective T/B husband can see it tomorrow night. i asked if he wanted to cancel our contract and he said not until everything is for sure. sounds like it will be. i feel kind of like a failure that i couldn't find someone for their property, but i am hearing that is quite the norm. one guy i heard about has only gotten T/B's for 3 out of 12 houses he had under contract. not a good average for me. anyway, under the circumstances and considering the difficulties i've had with this property, it is probably best to let it go. i'm not cancelling the showing unless they tell me to because he wants me to show it if things are not for sure tomorrow. i finally got to talk to Jared last night through Skype messaging. he was on a mission Friday-Sunday, then out every day as well. i'm just thankful he's good and doing well. when he calls me "momma", i know he misses me. Des, Brian and Kadi got a bulldog puppy today and he's adorable. i called her on Skype to see him and he just loves Des. she said he wants to play all the time. Kadi insisted on wearing a cute dress and tights so she can look cute for Bruno, the puppy. kids are so funny.

if you have time, check out the new forum i posted under Everything Else about how you use your REI time. thanks.

i have been returning phone calls, cleaning out emails, finishing my shredding and posting ads on CL. i also asked how to post them on FB and got a couple answers from "friends". i've also done some research and got started on a new program for my mind. Lord knows i need it. i have to do this for 8 weeks, twice a day. there is a morning and an evening track to listen to, each of them being one hour and 20 minutes long. the morning one you can work, drive, etc. the evening one you have to relax and you can even go to sleep. if i could find help to figure out how to burn it on a CD, that would be extremely helpful. maybe i can post that on FB too.

there are 3 of us going to look at the 4 properties today. that should be fun. we do have a good group and we enjoy ourselves. now if we could just get some deals going. i know that there are some ideas swirling around.

have a great weekend, everybody!

i have had so many calls off my ads that i thought i would never catch up! got all the calls returned. i was supposed to show the Reed house today but they had to cancel because of a plumbing emergency (not the Reed house). they will try to reschedule next week. i set up an appointment with another couple for Monday at 11:30am. my little investor group looked at 4 properties yesterday. good rental areas in a not-so-nice part of town, but with possibilities. the problem is that i think the rehabs would be more than the properties are worth after the rehab. we'll have to run the numbers. this is spring break week coming up so we will have to wait until we're all able to get together. the banker was a talker and he wants to get rid of the properties, but if he has to pay us to "buy" them, i don't think that will go over real well. my "partner" was very generous and gave me the course to go over that we are sharing because he's too busy right now. we all want to get together and go over a different type of deal process as well. i think we have a nice little group of investors to work with and we all want to make some money! tomorrow morning we are going to hear one of the guys from "Flip This House" and it should be fun. we're not interested in buying anything; just want to see the guy in person and see what he has to say. they said he'd be there in person so we shall "see". my grandkids call me Diva. my 2-year old grandson would never say that; when i stayed with them he would call me "MAW" because Danelle kept calling me Mom. anyway, he is finally saying Diva, but it comes out Dave-uh. oh, well, close enough. it looks like it could get ugly outside, kind of stormy-looking. at least i'm safe inside and can watch it out the window. have a great Saturday!

for some reason my ad on Friday pulled a lot of calls on Saturday, and i'm still getting calls. i showed the Reed property this morning to some very nice people. they love the house and had some questions. they are being cautious, but they understand rent to own and seem very interested. i still have an appointment tonight and then one tomorrow morning. another woman is trying to set up a showing with me and that may be for Thursday. it's been crazy. this is the first time i've actually shown a property i have under contract! kind of exciting! i'm just thankful i was able to make the showing. last night i went to bed in horrific pain, but thanks to some nasty storms that i never heard, i slept pretty well. i am doing better today, but still very "touchy". i was messaging Jared through Skype and he asked how many properties i have under contract now. i told him 3 and now i would like to make some money from them. he told me to keep after it and the money will come. i think he's very proud that i am finally going after what i've talked and dreamed about for 10 years. yes, some people are very slow. i sent out the turn-key rental property information to all the investors on my buyers list and got a response from one of my buddies. he asked the price and i hope it didn't scare him off. i told him it's the asking price. i have to be careful how i say things, but i would consider all offers. i'm really just trying to help the seller out, but i would like to make some money for my efforts. Chuck and i went to that seminar yesterday put on by one of the "Flip This House" stars. it was 3 1/2 hours long, which is very unusual, but they gave some really good information and a little insight into the guy's real persona, not the TV one. i was impressed with the information they offered for free, the cost of everything and what it entailed. i just went for the fun of it, but we learned some things and had a nice time. no matter what, you can almost always learn at least one new thing that might be of benefit to you and/or your business. i always try to keep an open mind.

You are doing a great job on your L/O. What contract do you use with the seller? I seem to lose them after I give them the contract, not sure what happens. Have been returning alot of calls but no new contracts yet.

well, it sounded like i was doing so well, but now it seems to have changed. my first house should have a tenant/buyer in it on May 01st and the sellers found them. today, after booking all these appointments for the second house, the seller emails me that their cousin who is a realtor talked her into listing the house with them. i have emailed her to tell her he can exclude me from the listing contract and also asked her to verify if she wants to cancel the contract. i'm very disappointed and could get very upset about it all, but what would that do? to be honest, i feel very misled by all the gurus out there that make it sound so easy and quick. maybe that is not their intention, but it still comes across that way. as i was typing this, Lea called and we had a very good conversation about my situation. there is more going on than i will go into on here, but she has been a great support to me and i can never tell her how much i appreciate her. to think that we met on Dean's free website over REI. sometimes we have to face the unfaceable and move on. i think i have put all my hopes and dreams into REI and it hasn't produced anything monetarily for me at this point. i have had a lot of disappointments, but i've also made some very good friends and learned a lot of interesting information. i'm going to go have a massage now (part of my Christmas present from Chuck) and try to just relax and clear my head. no tears during fun stuff.

my massage yesterday was really nice and the girl who did it was nice too. she really had to work on my shoulders a lot because i hold most of my stress there. i went and picked up my sign from the Reed house and i know that sign can make me money; i have no doubt about it. i also know that house would have had a tenant/buyer by next week. oh, well, their loss. i went and got contacts today and boy, is this a hoot. i haven't worn them in several years because the eye doctors i was going to weren't very helpful. now i've found one who is. i have to wear the gas permeable because of trifocals and i put them right in and got them out too. pretty much remember everything and they only felt scratchy for about 15 minutes. they are still a bit irritating trying to get used to them again. i can see, but things are a bit blurry and for reading i have to wear reading glasses right now. i see the doctor again in a week and hopefully i will have adjusted better to them. if not, he can tweak them. i don't mind having to wear reading glasses, but i don't want to feel i'm always in a fog either. i need to regroup and figure out how to make L/O's work better for me. i am rethinking how i want to handle things. i have plenty of people calling for rent to own houses so i need to find them and get these people in them as quickly as possible. tonight i am meeting a friend from high school and we have not seen each other in 35 years. she picked a restaurant that is supposed to serve gluten-free food without even knowing i have to do that. it's close to the house too, so it's very convenient for me. we met again about a year ago through facebook and finally will see each other in person. hopefully we will recognize each other!! i put my makeup on with my contacts in and couldn't see real well so i hope i don't scare her or anyone else!!!

i am really ticked now. i just talked to the 3rd person who wanted that Reed house. she wanted to know what she needed to do to get the ball rolling. i would have had the sellers out from under the payment within a couple weeks at most and they are busy playing the realtor's games. Chuck suggested emailing the sellers this week and letting them know. what lousy timing!!! whaaaa!!

my dinner with my friend from high school turned out to be wonderful. we had a great time and i recognized her, but she didn't recognize me. people always say they recognize my voice, not my face. nice. i talked to Lea again this morning. we both have needed to talk more this week and it's so nice that we have that opportunity because we don't work J.O.B.'s. i've gotten some new tenant/buyers to put on my list because of that Reed house. the seller emailed me today telling me thank you for everything and if the house doesn't sell quickly on the MLS, they will come back to me. i wrote back what i thought was a very nice email letting them know i'm here and that i've had 4 people really wanting their house; they just have to do rent to own right now. one of the people i showed the house to has emailed me throughout the day today and we've had some very nice conversations. i talked with my investor friend today about rental properties and how he figures what he will pay. he is always so willing to help and give me his time. now to try to explain it in a general way to the seller of the rental property i'm helping him with. my friend also gave me a name and email to ask about land contracts. i have shied away from them for tenant/buyers, but if i could make them work for me i would use them. what i am thinking is getting a house on land contract and then doing a L/O on it. that way i would have full control of the house. i have to work this out in my head and talk to the guy i was referred to. i think i can make it work, but i have to know a whole lot more about it. it would involve more money up front, but i could get that from the T/B. i have decided to go to OK for my granddaughter's 6th birthday. she has been begging me to come. it's not what i had planned, but things seem to be working out that way. it'll be good to spend some time with them. i will still work real estate, but i need to see my kids as much as i can. every now and then i get the urge to keep driving and go on a road trip, so now i guess i am. Jared has been very sick and now Desiree is sick too. i guess all the weather changes in OK and Afghanistan are really causing a lot of colds. we may have to buy Jared some Vicks in bulk and send it.

i got all that information from my investor friend yesterday and passed it on to the seller. he doesn't want to change anything, so we are moving in the same direction. i did ask him to get me some pictures and he said he would this weekend. he really doesn't want to put the price in the range it needs to be for an investor to buy it as a rental. i'm thinking i will advertise it both ways, as an investment property and as a retail home. we'll see what happens. not a whole lot going on today; had to concentrate my efforts elsewhere. hope you have a great weekend.

Linda,
I'm sorry to hear about your sandwiches falling through This business is VERY cutthroat. DO NOT GIVE UP! I had almost 20 deals fall through before getting my rehab property. Things happen for a reason, and we don't understand why, but there is a deal waiting for you. In the mean time, KEEP ADVERTISING those L/Os and you will bring in more and more T/B. That's the key, to have them all lined up before you get into a house. I wish you all the best, and pray that more deals will fall into place for you!

Also, on the first one, make sure they didn't put in a tenant you already talked to. Sometimes the T/B opt to try it as a rental first, and make the decision to L/O it later.

pdqservicesinc wrote:

well, it sounded like i was doing so well, but now it seems to have changed. my first house should have a tenant/buyer in it on May 01st and the sellers found them. today, after booking all these appointments for the second house, the seller emails me that their cousin who is a realtor talked her into listing the house with them. i have emailed her to tell her he can exclude me from the listing contract and also asked her to verify if she wants to cancel the contract. i'm very disappointed and could get very upset about it all, but what would that do? to be honest, i feel very misled by all the gurus out there that make it sound so easy and quick. maybe that is not their intention, but it still comes across that way. as i was typing this, Lea called and we had a very good conversation about my situation. there is more going on than i will go into on here, but she has been a great support to me and i can never tell her how much i appreciate her. to think that we met on Dean's free website over REI. sometimes we have to face the unfaceable and move on. i think i have put all my hopes and dreams into REI and it hasn't produced anything monetarily for me at this point. i have had a lot of disappointments, but i've also made some very good friends and learned a lot of interesting information. i'm going to go have a massage now (part of my Christmas present from Chuck) and try to just relax and clear my head. no tears during fun stuff.

Call them up and let them know...

pdqservicesinc wrote:

i am really ticked now. i just talked to the 3rd person who wanted that Reed house. she wanted to know what she needed to do to get the ball rolling. i would have had the sellers out from under the payment within a couple weeks at most and they are busy playing the realtor's games. Chuck suggested emailing the sellers this week and letting them know. what lousy timing!!! whaaaa!!

thanks for stopping by and thank you for the encouragement. i will keep after it. i did email the Reed seller but i did not hear back from her. as far as the tenant/buyer for the Omee house, i never had anyone serious about that property, so i will not pursue it on this one. i do have to ask how i would find that information out in the future though???

been very busy, but little REI. i did have another call on the Reed house and let him know what happened. i've gotten a few T/B's to work with from it and we'll see what i can do. i'm mainly working on getting things in order so i can head to Tulsa in a week. i think i need a break, need to be with my kids and they seem to need to be with me. sometimes i'm amazed at the wisdom my kids have. my granddaughter and grandson are especially happy that i'm coming. i emailed everyone from my little investment group about meeting here at our house tomorrow afternoon. not sure if anyone can make it, but hopefully we'll get something worked out. we need to meet before i leave. they may have to work on some things while i'm gone and i hate to miss out, but gotta do what you gotta do. i'm disappointed that i don't have any L/O's working right now, but it does allow me the opportunity to be gone for a couple weeks. the trip isn't worth just one week, if i can do better than that. i will put an ad in for the "flip" house tomorrow, and i'm going to try to "sell" it as a first-time home for someone. that way the price might be more appealing; it's definitely not of any interest to investors at this price. i hope you all are doing well out there in REI land.

getting ready for a trip causes life to get crazier than it all ready is. i ran a couple quick errands and have been trying to get my investor group together today or tomorrow. finally i decided to invite everyone over tomorrow at 7pm and if they show, fine; if not, fine. it's too hard to nail everyone down. i put an ad on CL for the rental house, just making it out to be a nice starter home. maybe someone will pay what he wants if it's a retail deal. we'll see what happens. i happened to remember to print out my new REA license (from changing agencies) so i can get into a HUD class tomorrow. hopefully it will give me some good information on doing HUD deals as an REA. i'm also looking into being a life coach. this is basically something i've been doing some of since i was a little kid and it's time to get serious about it. i can still relate it with REI, as well as other businesses. i picked out the CD's i will be taking with me on my trip. i love "Automobile University". i've learned more from it than anything or anyone else. i hope to meet with a couple investors while i'm there (one of you knows who you are) and maybe look at some L/O possibilities. 2 weeks isn't a lot of time, but i have to fit some things in.

getting past the hump. it's beautiful here today. my contacts aren't working out quite right, so the eye doctor ordered me a different brand and they will got to OK so i can pick them up next week. he said i may not be adjusting to the bifocals and i just refuse to accept that i can't wear them. hopefully this new brand will work better for me. i went to the Board office at noon for a HUD class. it's free and you can bring your own lunch to eat while sitting in the class. the instruction was slow and tedious, but the cheat sheets look very helpful. my investor group is meeting here at 7pm to go over some properties and decide about a possible new direction to take. one of the members mentioned that he has a private lender - Bank of MOM. i'm interested to hear more about it. one of our members does not come to anything anymore, so i'm wondering if he really wants to be a part of the group. if someone is not contributing in some way, i feel that they should not reap the benefits, but that is just my opinion. we'll see how everyone else feels about that. our core group is a good one. i have been packing a little very day to get ready to leave. that way it doesn't seem so overwhelming and i'm trying to remind myself that i'm only going to be gone a couple weeks, so i really don't have to pack everything i own. today is Chuck's birthday, but we will have to celebrate in a day or two because of all the meetings we have. sometimes i think life just gets a little too busy.

i'm so thankful for these beautiful days! only 2 of the investor group came last night beside me. the guy had to leave early and so the woman and i talked until 10:30pm. we both were exhausted, but we got to know each other better. we decided not to make offers on the properties we looked at a couple weeks ago (it's tough to make fast decisions when we're all so busy and scattered in different areas). the rehab costs were so high that there was nothing left in the deals, even if used as rentals. the neighborhoods are war zones and i personally prefer not to deal in those areas. now if the deal was good, then i might reconsider. we are looking at making some changes to what we're doing as a group and i think we could be heading in the right direction. we did have another member of the group decide he would rather just invest with 1 or 2 people and not more than that. i think we have a good group left. we all need/want to make money and we also enjoy ourselves with each other. the seller of the Reed house contacted me today about showing them a property to move into. i'm showing it Saturday at 3pm, the day before i leave for Tulsa. it's a HUD property so i'm working on getting the correct information so i can sign up with HUD as a bidder (you have to be an REA) within my new agency. the seller also wants me to set up another MLS search for them with some very specific information. she said that when they first listed the house with her cousin, they got a lot of inquiries, but now it's really slowed down. i reiterated that there are plenty of people who love that house, but they can't get a loan just yet. i finally listened to Dean and Matt's call from March 01st. it was excellent and i took plenty of notes. then i went to Carol Stinson's post on resources to implement Matt's plan and wrote down all the links she had, plus what a few others DGer's contributed and put them with those notes on Matt's call. no, i am not slow!!!

every day gets me closer to leaving. only 3 days and i'll be in Tulsa. my grandson said he is ready. i had some errands to run, got that done and a bit more this afternoon and maybe evening. it is so windy outside and it makes it feel cold. good thing my "wig" is attached! i put another ad on CL for the one property i have under contract now. i was able to add pictures this time and they are nice pictures. hopefully someone will be interested. the seller of the beautiful house emailed and asked if i had the name and number of a guy that called me earlier in the week. he said he could buy or do rent to own, so i gave him their number to call. apparently he never did. every week they seem to be in a bigger hurry to sell, but it's not happening so far. i looked up the listing and they have it listed higher than my price, yet people were complaining about my price to the sellers and then they would come back to me about it. i know they have it priced at that so the realtor(s) can get their commissions. a part of me is really ready to get out of here and a part of me keeps wondering how i can take the time to be gone for 2 weeks. well, i guess i will just appreciate it working out for me to go and see my kids and not worry about it. i'm sure everything will work out the way it's supposed to. tomorrow i'll be at a landlord summit all morning, then showing that house to the one seller. the rest of the time i better be finishing up my packing.

the weather is ugly, windy, rainy and cold. this morning at my REI club meeting we had a landlord summit. we had a full house. there were 5 successful landlords on the panel and they did a great job. one guy got everyone's attention and he is very willing to share what he does and how he does it. we got some good information. i just got back from showing a house to the sellers of the house that cancelled with me. they said i'm still on their radar and they are not very happy with their realtor cousin. i was very nice about everything and just told them how most realtors are trained and that i had set myself apart from that because i care about the clients. the seller wife said she likes that. she even hugged me when i got to the house. it is a HUD house and the husband wants to make a bid right away. i had to tell them i am leaving tomorrow, but that their cousin could do it. they want to put in a low offer and i explained about that and some other things. i would really like to be the one to do it, but as the one guy on our panel said this morning "pay it forward" and it will come back to you. that is what i did and i feel really good about it. i would love to get some things going in OK. what to do?

i didn't sleep real well last night and was up at 6:35am because i wasn't resting either. i made it to Fenton, MO and am at the hotel. it's so nice to be alone for an evening and do what i want to, then i'll be with all the kids tomorrow. they seem anxious for me to get there. i'm going to eat an early supper and just mess around on the computer. i plan on getting the rest of the journals i follow caught up. i did listen to REI CD's on wholesaling all the way here. tomorrow i will finish those up and then listen to CD's on co-op L/O's. the ad i ran on the rental property the seller wants to sell drew in a few inquiries, but they all want a rent to own or land contract situation. by the time i get back to IN i might be able to convince the seller to go that direction. a guy i met yesterday at the summit was recommended to me by my investor buddy concerning land contracts. i want to see if i can work them into my business. i just emailed him to see if we can get together and talk about them when i get back from my trip. i think he lives some distance away, but it would be a worthwhile trip. i hope to talk with my friend from Broken Arrow about getting started a little toward investing in OK. we'll see how that works out. then i hope to meet with a fellow DGer too; we've been trying to get together forever! i want to look at some properties too and drive some neighborhoods. should be interesting. i did get to talk to Jared for a few minutes. i haven't heard his voice in at least a month and between his internet connection and me being out in the middle of nowhere, we lost the call twice. no matter, at least i got to hear his voice. alot of the guys have been on leave and they've only been there 4 months. Jared has to wait until August, but his time left there should be only 3 months or so by then. i wish he was gonna be here this trip!

got here yesterday and had a good drive. the grandkids are excited to see me and it takes a lot of energy. it is in the 70's and 80's here so i have to adjust to the warmer weather and high humidity. i saw some interesting properties. i'm going to lunch with a good friend tomorrow and we will be talking REI. i'm also working on setting up a meeting with another DGer for this week. i may be doing a little work for my daughter's company next week, so i want to schedule meetings for this week if i can. it's fun to see all the possibilities here concerning REI. my seller for the rental property asked if i've had any interest in the property. i told him only as a L/O and that in a couple weeks, if nothing changes, we might want to consider advertising it as a L/O. he was agreeable to that. i saw a couple signs here for L/O's so i know that they are familiar with them here too. i am open to all the possibilities!

today it was cool and cloudy all day. the wind is strong and i think a storm is blowing in. i met with a close friend and we went to lunch. we talked about over-leveraging yourself to do REI and how you have to be ever mindful of cash flow. i also drove past a couple properties in an older area in Broken Arrow. the neighborhood is very run down and most of the houses could stand a good rehab. the one property had been rehabbed and i got one of the flyers. the asking price is $97,500 and i find that way too high. i think their prices are close to ours and there is no way anyone would pay $97,500 for that house. it said it is professionally landscaped, but it is minimal and anyone could do it. they put steel appliances in and that neighborhood is not one you would do that in. it's in a good area of town but high end stuff just doesn't fit. seemed kind of odd to me. i will have to do some research online. i also saw a cape cod on the same street that was a FSBO and it looked pretty nice. again, it's older but looked like a nice property. i drove past 3 sets of duplexes in a very old part of Broken Arrow on a small street. they were built several years ago and are beautiful. despite the area, they are always full. i need to get a plan together and see how i can make things work here. i am open to the possibilities.