Linda's (from Indiana) Journal

Linda,

You're doing great. You want to get better so don't push yourself too hard. Everything will work out fine with REI. We all have our days. Better ones are coming.

Cheryl

thanks for stopping by. i know it's been a while, but i will explain in my post below. i always appreciate your encouragement.

some of you may be wondering why i haven't been posting. maybe you thought i bit the dust or something? i was "locked out" of my account and could not post at all, but i could receive and respond to private messages. right now i am able to post using the password the IT guy changed it to to work on it, so i am excited. you have no idea how hard it's been not to be able to post. i need to be able to post to keep me accountable and motivated. i am doing much better, just have a nasty dry cough that can turn to choking at times and i do get tired. the doctor told me it could last a while. i have been up and around the last couple weeks, going slow, but still going. i've had a lot of catching up to do on personal things, so REI has been on the back burner some. so, here is a little of what has been happening lately: i tried to listen to some REI CD's on my way home from OK back in May from a course i bought some time back and my investment group wants to use. the CD's would not work and i've only listened to them a couple times. i contacted the company and they said if i would send the bad CD's to them they would send me new ones. they did and i received them today; they were very quick. 3 of us in the investment group went out Thursday and looked at 6 houses ranging in asking price from $13,000-24,000 each. the 2 we especially liked for our purposes went pending. we are not moving fast enough so i mentioned we need to speed things up a bit. one of the members wants me to look at information on an apartment complex down in Indy and see if we can work something out on it. i can only do so much at one time because of the toll that bronchitis took on me, so i am slower than my usual. i'm working on getting into a solid routine (slowly) as per what Jen Gray posted in her journal. that is a huge help to me to see it written down like that and i've made a plan, now to be able to implement it. many people have not been happy with our REI club and it's leader, so we have a new group starting in July and i'm excited to get involved with it. one of the guys starting it is a good investor friend and the other guy was one of the original people who started the old group and he is not happy with the direction the club has taken. i think the old group can still serve a purpose, but there are some things not quite right for me. different strokes for different folks. i must say it feels so good to be able to post again. i hope it lasts!!!

Sounds like you stumped the IT guy!

Glad to hear you are recovering from the bronchitis and starting another investor club. Especially glad to see you back on the boards again!

Linda,

Good to see you back! I thought of you and was hoping you were ok. Great to hear you're starting a new REI group. We belong to two and one has many subgroups. We get alittle from each. Good luck.

Cheryl

I sure hope you are doing better. I here you Hoosiers have been getting a heat wave. I hope your REI is going well alongn with your agent sells.

Take care Linda.

Steve

i feel like i'm "home" finally. the only thing now is i'm not earning any posting points because i'm using their password and not my real one. oh, well, at least i can post. sounds like you are trying some new ways of REI. you are a brave girl!

thanks! i'm glad to be back. i would belong to 100 REI groups if i could, but it would be expensive money and time-wise.

well, now i seem to be earning those points again. if they're trying to confuse me, they are doing a very good job!

i am doing a little better each day. it's been slow-going, but i will get there. yes, we've had a heat wave and now it's a little cooler. i thought when i moved here from OK i wouldn't have to deal with that heat and humidity, but it seems to have followed me. REI has been slow because of me recovering, but i'm working it as i can and hope to be in full swing again this week or next. i need to get over to your journal to see how you and Veronica are doing.

i could go post crazy now that i can post! i just want to get back into that habit right now, so i am posting despite not having much to say. i decided a while back that Sundays would be my rest days and that i would only do work if that's what i really wanted to do. i went through all the journals i follow regularly and caught up on what is going on with everyone else. i am motivated to get back on track and get moving forward faster. if they can do it, so can i. i might be slower, but i can be steady too. i may need to regroup and get some short-term goals written down about what i want to accomplish and when. i will be heading back to OK in a couple months because Jared will be home on leave. i just got a couple pictures of him from Afghanistan; he looks funny in his bomb suit. he said it's tough wearing that and having to crawl around in mud because of the storms they are having. i know it's not the "getting dirty" part he minds. i plan on driving my car this time so i can do some REI scouting while i'm there since I WILL BE WELL THE ENTIRE TIME i am there! the rental that the seller said he wanted me to market as a rent to own did not happen. when i tried to set up a meeting with the seller he agreed to the date, but never let me know what time or where, so i figure NEXT. if he changes his mind, he knows where to find me. it is beautiful here today and i'm so glad to be back on dg.com.

you have no idea how good it feels to be able to post and participate on here again. i started my day off early due to lack of sleep, but i'm working on that. mainly i spent a lot of time going through MLS listings looking for possible L/O deals. i have a little more research to do and then i want to start contacting the sellers if the listing expired or was cancelled and the agent if it is still active. one property is owned by a realtor. i narrowed it down to 12 properties to check out. i also want to get on www.trulia.com and www.realtytrac.com to see what else i can find. www.fsbo.com and www.forsalebyowner.com are places i need to check out too. maybe some new listings on those websites. i also have to check out that apartment complex in Indy and can't put that off. i promised i would see what i could do. i have a webinar i want to get started on too concerning owner financing. i know here because of the Safe Act we cannot do any kind of owner financing where the title actually changes hands, so mostly it's all about L/O's, but i want to see if i have any other things i can do. i know i won't sell on land contract because we are a judicial foreclosure state and a non-paying tenant/buyer can live rent-free for 6-24 months. ain't havin' none uh that. it's another beautiful day here and i'm so thankful.

now i can even use my own password to post. yay!!! i feel fully legitimate again. i looked up the 12 properties i needed to on the MLS and only one was re-listed. it is not an REO or a short sale, so i will email the realtor and see if they would be interested in doing a L/O because the house was on the market 400 days, the listing expired and then they relisted it a week ago. the listing says it's available for immediate possession, so that is a good thing. it's just that realtors (the majority) do not understand L/O's and won't recommend them to clients because they don't get commission up front since it's not a sale. i might be able to give them a little something up front, but it really isn't my responsibility to cover that. i would just have to see what happens and how we could work things out. i looked at the Indy apartment complex a little and it looks like the price would run about $18 million, give or take a few million. we'll see what happens on that. we would need a PML because this is a foreclosure. it is a distressed property but it should be in a good area, near to 4 highways. i listened to a webinar on owner financing, but it wasn't anything i didn't know. i'm listening to some information on tax liens and that might be a good way to go. i emailed a guy about it and am also talking to a fellow Dger. i also need to find more information on land contracts because they might be useful to me in buying; definitely not selling. fun, fun, fun.

i haven't had much going on with REI the last couple days. i took something to sleep on Wednesday night and i did sleep, but all day yesterday i was hung over and could barely function. i was a sight to see. i did manage to talk to Lea for a while, but i warned her i might not make sense. today i emailed 2 realtors about properties for L/O's. the woman had one of her own properties listed and then it expired. she has leased it and the tenants want to buy it at a later time. got a real nice email from her. haven't heard from the guy yet and it's not his personal property. i don't know why i hate to contact people but i think it's that fear of rejection. stupid! i got a very nice response back from one person and the other will probably be the same. so what if they aren't nice, who cares? they don't know me and i don't know them. it's such a silly thing to be afraid of. i'm listening to a CD in my car from Robyn Thompson, the rehab queen, and she mentions there are 6 fears, rejection being one of them. well, i just need to get over it. i have to babysit for my 5-year old niece today; my sister is going in for a biopsy. i'll be taking my book on vacant properties and my laptop. i might need to look at some things on the computer. i figure i'll be there a while. we set up going over some offers on Monday for my investment group. we'll see how that works out. i want to stay out of it as a realtor because these deals are too small for me to make the minimum commission on. it will also be easier to work with the listing agent and let her/him have the small commission. i'm more interested in profit. i just heard that i was turned down for health insurance again. i have had it! the guy i was working with told me that part of the problem is the health reform junk and insurance companies don't know what to do with it right now. it is in court and hopefully will be thrown out for being unconstitutional. if it isn't, we all will have to have insurance no matter the cost in 2014. i pray it is completely done away with. the American public does not understand what it entails and if our own government refuses to participate in it, then that
should be a good sign it's a lousy idea. we need to wake up!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL THE FATHERS OUT THERE! i went to my REI club meeting and it was good. we had 3 members who have been investing for years act as a panel to give some ideas about investing and share their experiences. the President of the club was one of the panel members and he said he was a long-haired rock and roll musician who worked at GM 80 hours a week. he got into investing 15 years ago and does it full-time and has never looked back. another panel member is my investor friend and he was a very successful salesman, has been investing for 5 years now and is very busy. he also told me that he wants to get together with me this week and talk some business. i need that. the other panel member was an engineer and left his job to invest full-time. he has 45 rentals. their investing styles are very different, but they do what works for them. i got an email from two of my investor group friends that they are doing some personal training with a guru for 3 days and if the guru is okay with it, they wondered if i wanted to sit in on the training. they doesn't expect me to pay for any of it. i was totally surprised. whether it works out or not, it is the thought that means so much to me. i found out that our new REI club will not start until the fall because one of the guys setting it up bought a distressed mobile home park and it needs a lot of work. it is a great deal and will produce a great income, but there is a lot of work required in the next few months. i'm very disappointed, but it's okay. it will be good when it happens. i went to the health food store yesterday and i was reminded about muscle testing. you can do it on supplements, foods, decisions, relationships, etc. this was a God-thing because i did not expect to talk to anyone, just get me stuff and go. the lady i really like that works there sought me out and we had a great talk. she is such an encouragement and help to me, something i'm very thankful for. our little investment group is meeting at our house Monday at 1pm. gotta start working on some offers and we have to get some things going. one of my friends at the REI club meeting was sitting next to me and he told me that an older guy said he would sell my friend his property with seller financing. i will have to keep my ears open to see how this turns out for him. i also talked to a couple who just bought their first tax lien. it sounds a whole lot more complicated than everyone makes it out to be. i will have to stay in touch with them and see how it turns out. the redemption period is up in October and they hope to get the house, although they are hearing rumors that the owner will be redeeming it any time. there has been someone working on the property, so i'm not sure how that all works. very strange to me, but what do i know about it?

i had to make some phone calls this morning and they were not all pleasant. one of my business credit cards has had 3 fraudulent charges since Friday and i had to close the account. the company is issuing me a new card. i have no idea how they got my information, unless it was someone at the credit card company. the charges were small, but not mine. very strange. they had all my address information too. another credit card is double-charging me interest so i won't be using that card if i want to carry a balance. the customer service rep i talked to was very sweet, but she would not shut up. she just went on and on. i asked her to be quiet and she kept talking, so i did say something to her supervisor. i emailed the seller of the beautiful house i had under contract (just to follow up) and then her cousin pushed her into listing the house with him. she is planning to get with me next week so we can put her house back on the market as a L/O. they are closing on a house they are moving into with the cousin/realtor and i think they want that out of the way first. their house has been on the MLS for 74 days, so even if they decided to let their contract run out at 90 days, that would be ok too. i just would really like to get that house L/O'd out for them and it would be a real coup for me. 3 of the investors from my little investor group came over today and we talked business. went through several leads i had sent them through the MLS and we are going to make some offers. i'm not really sure how all this will work out because they are kind of small deals, but we have a plan and that is always good. i think that is something i need to work on myself - i need to put a plan in place and then go after it. it is helpful that they have private money and i need to see what i can come up with myself on that end. as i told them, i'm just plain scared! i am meeting with my investor friend tomorrow. he has been so good to stay in touch with me and he really wants me involved with his company. it'll be interesting to see what he has to say. i have to take Jared's truck in for an oil change and to check his brakes on Thursday. i am waiting on the recall parts to come in so i can have it all ready for him when he comes home on leave. if i could just stay home several days so i can get my REI work done, that would help. i have a huge issue with getting busy once i've had to run around. bad excuse and i need to work on it a whole lot!

it is supposed to be 90 degrees here today and the sun is shining. it's nice to have days with no rain and cloudiness. i'm getting ready for my meeting with my investor friend. i emailed some realtors today about properties they had listed and have been on the market a while. one property looks like it is owned by an investment company and the realtor said he would follow up with me. i haven't heard from the others. i want to hang a small flyer on the grocery store bulletin board that is for PML's. i have never done that before and talk about being a chicken.....but it has to be done. with that money, there is so much i could do in REI. i will have to force myself to do it. i hope it doesn't take me long. i have to get over the embarrassment and even shame of doing things that i need to do for my business. i'm not sure where all that came from, but i want to release it. i can do better than that!

Linda -

Are you local to the Indianapolis area? I would like to meet with you to discuss the REI venture you're involved in.

I work downtown INDY and live on the upper northeast side.
I'm a newbie to the DG Club, and I am on the final chapters of Dean's book.
I've even found myself a reliable Real Estate Agent, who's ready to climb onboard. Who knew....

Look forward to your response.

TONY

i live north of Fort Wayne, so i'm a ways away from you. i know there are other Indy investors on here. i may eventually invest down there, but i'd like to do a few deals here at home first.

I have been reading and reading here for the last couple of hours trying to catch up on your journal. I have gotten so far behind on all of the ones I follow since I went back to work.

I have been totally lax on writing in mine, too and need to get back on it. I am still working REI, just not posting like I was.

It is great to see you are still at it.

You have really been in a fight with your health. Sending positive vibes your way for better health and to get the $$ flowing.

Karen

my dear, it's so good to hear from you. i'm still going, just really slow. doing everything i know to do and wishing it would work faster! how is REI going? i have been wondering about you. i bet you are doing well with it. so happy for you.

i haven't been doing much with REI this week. lots of things happening and i still am not up to par like i want to be. today we had to take Jared's truck in for an oil change and to have the brakes looked at. the dealership he bought the truck from in OK told him he needed to have his brakes done really soon and they are just fine. a dealership here did the same thing to me and i have gone another 1.5 years on the same brakes. thank goodness Chuck has a company he trusts and we always take our vehicles there for just about everything. the guy is honest and won't recommend work that doesn't need to be done. Jared's front brakes are at 80% and the back are at 50%, so he has a while before they need done. he'll be happy to hear that and i'll tell him as soon as i can get him on Skype. i hope to get more done with REI tomorrow and get myself rolling again. it would be a very good thing.

i have to come up with all these words for these little posts, but i want to stay in the habit of posting, especially since i know how it feels not to be able to post. as stated in an earlier post, i haven't had much time for REI this past week and this coming week i will be in class 2 full days for realtor continuing education classes that are required every 2 years. i had a coupon for $20 off before July 07th and then they issued me a credit for something, so i ended up paying $60 for $99 classes. can't beat that! makes me very happy. i have decided to play a little with learning about tax liens/deeds just to see if it is something for me or not. i wasn't going to, but i can't seem to let it go either. i need to take the lesson(s) with the SA and i have some other stuff to go through too. i'm hearing a new thing on options, so i am going to check into that as well. no giving up on what i'm doing, just seeing if there is something better for me or to add to my repertoire. i'm so fancy! i am also working on my subconscious mind because it seems to be getting in my way a lot. i was told a long time ago that my conscious and subconscious minds are at war all the time, and i would like to be able to get them in sync. i am working on it because i want to change my mind set, beliefs, paradigms and stop the self-sabotage. i heard a very good definition of what a paradigm is: a multitude of other people's habits. their habits become ingrained in you because your subconscious mind doesn't know any better. those habits come from your parents, siblings, teachers, pastors, friends, etc. now to change them.... hope everyone has a great and prosperous weekend. i need to work on the "prosperous" part!

Linda,

Glad to see you're doing well. Thanks for sharing the info about the paradigms. I've had a course like that years ago and I want to go back and review my notes. Hope you have a prosperous week!

Cheryl

glad to "see" you again. how are things going? i hope you are having a prosperous week yourself. i keep going, not matter how slow it may be. i just wish i would pick up a little speed.

it is a beautiful day here. yesterday i managed to take a long walk and just enjoy the beauty of the day. i did peek into a lovely home not far from our house that is an REO. without the air conditioning on and this humidity we're having, the house may be a mess with mold by the time someone buys it. right now it looks pretty good from what i could tell by looking in the windows. i wish i had the wherewithal to buy it and get a tenant/buyer in there. most houses in here sell within 6 months, although there is one that has been on the market well over a year and still nothing. i would love to be able to help them out, but i have heard bad things about their realtor. if i can figure out a way to approach her, i may just send an email and see what happens. gotta get my courage up first, but with me, you just never know. sometimes something will just hit me right and i just do it, not much thought or anything. i wish i was more like that all the time! a while back i made up a flyer for PML, but i could never make myself hang it up. it kept bugging me and finally this morning i grabbed it and changed it around. some time ago i was told that you cannot make any guarantees on return for PML and the best way to "advertise" for it was to say something about "learn how to". so, taking that advise, i changed my flyer around to "learning how to" lend private money and have it secured by real estate while the party they lend the money to is doing all the work: finding the property, due diligence, rehab and selling it. i guess we'll see how that works out. i may have figured out a way to do a deal and have the cash to do it. i'm still shocked that i didn't see this earlier and that i actually may have found a way to do a small deal. i just want to be very careful that i don't get myself into a mess and cause a bad situation for myself. i certainly don't need any more of that; i need a real success to happen. so, let's see what tomorrow brings!

i am working on my OK S-Corp business stuff. OK is doing something different and it's just to get $25 out of me. a bit confusing but i have it figured out. just need to get it ready to mail with my money. i still haven't found a house for a tenant/buyer in the area he prefers. i really wanted to be able to do that, but so far nothing. i found another bit of "cash" for a deal or combining the 2. i just have to find the deal. unfortunately my personal life is taking up a lot of time because of many uncertainties. i hope to get some things figured out by this weekend, but i may not like what i get figured out. oh, well, i guess life still goes on whether we are ready or not. i tried to get into my SA account so i could finish my lessons (as usual, way behind) and it won't take my password. i emailed my coach and i hope to hear from her soon because i would really like to finish it up and move forward on that. unfortunately i did not get 5 deals done for my refund, but nothing i can do about that now. i've really had trouble focusing on other things besides my personal life and i need to change that around. i used to be very focused and would go after what i really wanted and make it happen, but the last several years everything has been out of whack. i probably need to write a book about it at some point; i've had a book in me for years that needs to be written but i didn't know the end. i'm sorry to say that now i probably do and it's not the one i had hoped for. tomorrow and Thursday i will be in my continuing education classes for realtor stuff. i hope i didn't just waste $60! i have a bunch of studying to do as well; i'm just having a hard time finding the time for it right now. i sure hope to one day get past a life that is topsy-turvy all the time. it would be a huge help, especially with REI.

i don't have much time, but i just had to post. i just got home from my first day of continuing education for real estate agents/brokers. it was long and a bit boring, yet the speaker did a very good job with what he had to work with. i sat by a broker that must be in his 70's and he lives by that first house i got under contract. the sellers put a nice T/B in there and i'm pretty sure they used my contracts to do it. oh, well. i'll have to figure out a better way to protect myself. the main reason i had to post is because the seller of the beautiful house i had under contract emailed me while i was in class and asked what they have to do to get the house back under contract with me. Whoo-hoo! i'm so excited. i really want to put a good T/B in this house and i have wanted it back. i am in class tomorrow and will work on the paperwork Friday. it's not back under contract yet, but it sounds like it will be. we will see what happens. at least they remembered me and contacted me about it this time.

boy those classes were so boring! one of the "gripes" everyone had is that they never talk about anything really relevant, just the same old topics over and over. not only that, but everything is totally negative and about getting sued, losing, settling, etc. i have never been to anything with realtors that even has a positive note. to be honest, i was seriously thinking about just giving up my license. i'm not sure it's worth it to me, but i will think and pray about it first. one broker told me she asks herself every day why she's doing this. with all the negativity and crookedness in this business, i'm asking myself the very same thing. i did learn some things and met some nice people, and we had it at a hotel to accommodate a lot of people, so that was very nice. they showed 3 short videos at the end of yesterday about how our minds get so messed up with all the stuff that's been put into our subconscious. really gave me more to think about. i got a report from my doctor on my latest blood work and for the first time ever, he said my thyroid stuff is perfect and my cholesterol is good. now to work on triglycerides. i'm really happy that the cholesterol was totally done naturally by taking policosanol. that was the only thing that helped. got to talk to all 3 of my kids today, so it was special for me. i have had more stuff come in about money for deals, so i have to take some time and really concentrate on that, but it will be after Tuesday. i've got this holiday weekend and then an appointment on Tuesday. i am looking for small deals that i can buy then do L/O's on. there are some time limits involved so i need to get my act together quickly. i called my broker today about my investor friend wanting to work with me on wholesale deals. he won't pay the transaction fee and he will only pay a minimum commission of $500. if i can do it, fine; if not, fine. i'm not gonna worry about it. this is another reason to get a broker's license. well, i just got off the phone with both brokers and it is even better than i thought. i don't have to charge a transaction fee and we'll just up the minimum commission to $350, instead of charging that fee. the minimum commission is actually $200, but this way it won't come into play. these brokers are really good guys and easy to work with. the call only took a few minutes. i hope everyone has a wonderful Fourth of July and that you all remember how truly blessed we are to have the freedoms we have. and a Big Thank You to all our military past and present!

i cannot go into detail at this time, but i have made a tough decision that has been a long time coming. some people are just really slow. i am still looking for deals and a broker at the CE classes told me he has some duplexes he wants to get rid of this year. as he left on Thursday, he said he'd be in contact in a couple weeks. i wouldn't mind owning some duplexes and maybe even doing something where i can help someone else buy them through L/O's. i would like to buy them on land contract because i certainly cannot go to a bank and get a loan. i think they are in decent areas. we shall see. i just got an email on a property that looks like a good one and the price is under $20,000. the area is decent too. tomorrow i am going to a temporary employment agency to see if i can get some work. it would be nice to make some money in the next several weeks before Jared comes home on leave, but not have any real commitments to a job so i can be gone like i need to be. i hope everyone is having a wonderful 04th of July! God Bless America and our Soldiers!