Linda's (from Indiana) Journal

i had a good coach with the Success Academy and many people have had real success with them. my life has been in transition for the past 10 years, so i wasn't able to do everything i would have liked to do while in it. the stuff Dean is offering right now sounds very good. i'm not sure if you're just looking at the Success Academy or at the new offering from the videos. i would make sure it fits what you are looking for and it's still expensive, so you have to look at the full picture. since you have no fear about offers, etc., that puts you way ahead of the game. it is nice to have someone to hold your hand and lead you through some deals, so if that is what you are looking for, you probably should go for it. good luck with your decision and what you decide to do.

Hi, Linda!

Thank you so much for your reply. I really appreciate the time you took to reply back to me.

Does Success Academy give you access to your coach only for a limited period of time? Does it come with training?

I am sorry that I am throwing Qs at you..

Just trying to gather information before contacting them.

Thank you, Linda!

Matt Inomata

p.s Which markets do you invest in, by the way? Is your focus on wholesale?

you're welcome. no problem at all. yes, when i was in it you had access for a certain amount of time. i don't like that because i think you should be able to contact them whenever, but you can call the hotline anytime. the problem with that was i got a couple coaches that didn't have a clue what i was talking about and when they couldn't "get it", then they got rude and treated me poorly. that's not the norm though. when you call the SA they will tell you all about what you are paying for. ask them all the questions you want and if you don't get the answers you want, then don't do it. they are paid to "sell" you and you have to get them past the "just selling you on it" part. if it's not for you, don't be embarrassed to say no. if it is for you, then go for it. i was very specific about what i wanted and they worked with me. i'd been ripped off a couple times before so i knew what i wanted and didn't want. they were willing to work with that.

i'm in the OK market right now. i'm willing to wholesale if it comes along, but i L/O's are my top priority. where are you at?

i haven't been around much lately and i am sorry about that. i've had so much stuff going on in my life that needed to be dealt with. i'm in a much better place and still moving forward, even when it seems so slow. i've had a couple interesting and exciting days lately so i thought i would post about it, even if it's not really about real estate. i, think for me, it's that anything is possible.

Jared went on a VIP mission this week with the President on the campaign trail to Virginia Beach. for those of you who haven't read my entire journal, Jared is my son and he is Army bomb squad or EOD, as in my signature line. he has some of the neatest experiences.

yesterday i was trying to balance my IN checking account and i'm taking it down to as low as i can and still keep it open for right now. anyway, i am very careful using my debit card and writing down all the transactions, but somehow i missed one for almost $100. i was so upset that i even missed writing it down, but then i just knew my account would be overdrawn. i looked it up online and it wasn't overdrawn. i called the bank to find out what to do since i've never done this before and they were very helpful. then i checked my account and everything has come out that i had down in my checkbook. so, i decided to go ahead and try to balance my account after writing the missing transaction down. i found 2 transactions in my checkbook that never went through and are too old to go through now. i had enough money in my account to cover the transaction and i am so relieved. i will keep an eye on my account for at least a month, maybe longer, just to make sure. plus, i will implement another strategy to make sure i don't miss any more transactions. man, i hate that!!!

today i was on a call and i won't go into what it was about, but it was a free teleseminar (not on real estate). they are having a 7 week class that would be nice to take but it was $397 and i didn't want to pay that. i just mentioned to the Lord that it would be nice to take the class, but i am not going to pay for it. then, they had a little contest where you go to facebook and answer a question they asked. out of 48 entries, i won, they called my name out on the call and read my entry. i have never won anything like this before and i'm so excited to have won. the class starts on Thursday and i think there are some other things i get with it, but who cares?! it's mostly the fact that i won!

well, i'm learning all kinds of new things and not just about real estate. i guess my post for today is about "anything is possible". don't give up, be grateful for what you have and expect miracles. have a great weekend.

Hey Linda, have you closed a deal yet?

yes, or i wouldn't have a diamond. i'm working on some things as well. things have been slow for me but i'm picking up the pace as of today. hope things are going well for you.

i've been really busy today, getting back into the groove. i had a lot of things to catch up on from the weekend but i'm getting there. tomorrow should be a little smoother for me. it'll be easier to keep to a schedule starting tomorrow. lack of sleep over the last few days have really exhausted me, but i got up and walked this morning, after a 1/2 way decent night of sleep. does that even make any sense? i'm not sure. oh, well. at least i'm back at it again. this will be an extremely busy week but i will do my best to get back here often.

our Tulsa REIA club had a good brainstorming session yesterday. we had landlords telling us all kinds of stories and one guy brought in a bandit sign and showed everyone how to use the sign hammer. great little demo. i am supposed to meet with one of our members for lunch sometime next week.

Hi Linda, I have emailed indiana joe and he said he was 4 hours from me. I would like some help when I need it from someone in indiana, Im from bloomington. You can pm me if you would like. Geoff Vaughts Journal.

i haven't changed the name of my journal, but i am in OK right now. and OK is like the easiest state to invest in! is there a REIC near you? i don't know how close you are to Indy, but they have 2 good clubs there. if i can help you, i will do my best, but i am almost 12 hours away now. sorry.

i spent some time today working on social media. i'm not a techie so it's confusing to say the least. i may have to get some help from Jared's girlfriend. also did some marketing work. i am trying to do it in increments because it can be tedious and takes time. we'll see what kind of results we get from some consistent action.

i actually worked a schedule today. i've been struggling to stay on schedule and last week i made one up for Monday through Friday and followed it today. i feel like i've actually accomplished something. yay! now to stay on it regularly and adjust as necessary.

for anyone who might be interested, try out www.mint.com. it is for budgeting, following your investments, etc. it's free and they have free phone apps too. my daughter was working on a budget today and i suggested it to her. she set it up right away and likes the features.

i really tried to stay on schedule today, but that didn't happen. as you can see, i'm "working" late. tomorrow i'll be gone quite a bit, so the schedule won't happen again. my hopes are high for Friday. i did get an email that said something like "fixer house for sale" and he sent 17 pictures. no idea who he is or where he is, so i replied and asked. i think it is from an ad i put on CL yesterday. i also got a call from a yellow letter i just sent out yesterday. i only sent out 5 so that is a 20% result. how about that? the message left sounded like an older lady so we'll see what happens with that. i hope i can help both. i'm about ready to call it a day.

as i'm sending out direct mail, i still have a 20% response rate. i'm very happy with that. there must be something i'm doing right. i've been working on setting up my social media and doing things i've procrastinated about for a long time. i'm going back and forth with setting up a couple blogs and/or doing videos too. i like the videos and i think people like to see the person giving all this information, but i'm not sure what will work best for me right now. i'm waiting on my son's girlfriend to get me more information on setting up my channel on youtube and figuring out how to make this all work the best. i talked with an older seller this morning. she needs CASH and quickly, but i remembered to ask for a referral this morning. she didn't know of anyone offhand, but at least i remembered to ask. this is one habit i'm working to add to my calls and contacts. i also got a response off an ad. the property needs a lot of work and is probably in North Tulsa. he didn't send any information in the body of the email, but he sent me 17 pictures. i replied by asking if he was the owner and where the property was. it's in Tulsa and he has it under contract, but wanted to see if i was interested. he said he will rehab it most likely, but i told him the range i would offer sight unseen since he asked. i did remember to ask if he was a member of Tulsa REIA because his name didn't seem familiar, but he still might be. if not, i will invite him.

Stopping by to say hi! HOpe you are doing well! Blessings to you!

what a nice surprise! sounds like you are doing great. thanks for stopping by.

i finally had to do a complete system recovery on my 9-month old desktop computer. it's very aggravating, but it went pretty well. it will take me a few days to get everything back to the way i had it, or at least mostly that way. i have to reset bookmarks, readjust things and all that because it took my computer back to how i received it from the factory. not fun, but i'm hanging in there. so much for Windows 7 being such a great product. they think my registry was corrupted when it came from the factory, so now it should work like a dream. i guess we will see. yikes!

i had planned to stay current on my journal, but life took me in a different direction. for the last several weeks i have been led to work on me and pretty much only me. i guess i need a lot of work. i've had some challenges along the way and needed to be sure i have the right mindset at all times. for anyone who might be curious, i am reading some very enlightening books from a British author and in just 2 weeks i'm seeing results i haven't gotten in years of studying self-help stuff. i am going through a challenging time with a few things in my life right now, yet for the first time ever i am sleeping at night and not worrying about things. it is great! if you want to know more, please PM me.

i talked to a fellow DGer who just couldn't seem to find her way with REI. she is determined and hasn't given up, yet she just couldn't seem to get where she desired to go. we were on Skype last night and she has found her way. she is a nurse and she is getting into Elder Care. she loves the elderly and this will go along with her life purpose, and will be very profitable. she has a business plan and a private investor. it's amazing what happens when those 2 things go hand-in-hand.

going to my REIC meeting tonight. it's a vendor show so it will be interesting to see who is there. i haven't been to one of these in years.

how can it get any better than this? what else is possible?

i realize it's been slow-going getting me on here lately. i have had so much going on with other things that REI took a back seat for a while. i am learning to go with the flow and not try to force anything.

my son and his girlfriend were here for the past week and went home yesterday engaged. it was so awesome! i went with Jared to pick out the rings and then i picked them up with him. how many moms get to share in that? he proposed to her at a big church/ Bible school campus here that has millions of lights for Christmas and it is amazing and beautiful. then they came back to my daughter's house where they'd been staying so the whole family could share in this engagement. i even took some good pictures with a little camera my dad gave me.

i have been really blessed here lately, learning to use my mind in an appropriate manner and learning how to manifest good things into my life. that can only help my real estate investing!

a Seller contacted me November 01st about a distressed property. i asked for more information and never heard back from her until this Tuesday. i emailed her and told her my son was here and i would get back to her by today. i just got off the phone with her. i told her what i could offer and how i would put it under contract and then sell the contract to an end buyer. she seemed to understand. i also told her that i would make some money on the deal since the end buyer would be buying my contract on the house. she has had 2 verbal offers, but nothing came of the one. the other one was from some guys who are coming to look at the house today or tomorrow. i told her if she can't work a deal with them (it wasn't all cash) then let me know and i will send her a contract. the nice thing here in OK is that the weasel clause is in the State RE contracts already, so i can exercise that if i have to. she understood that i would not buy the property; i would only find an end buyer. it would be a total rehab, although the foundation is sound, which is good for around here, and it would probably make a good rental. two houses on the same side of the street are being rehabbed right now, there is a Section 8 across the street and alot of the homeowners are older people who have lived there a long time. i'm excited, whether it works out or not. it's all good and she knows i would like to be of help to her.

how can it get any better than this and what else is possible?

well, here it is the end of 2012 and this last half of the year has been quite challenging, to say the least. i guess it's teaching me some very important lessons, but i'm not real crazy about it all, that's for sure.

i thought i had a deal lined up and that fell through. i thought i had some great buyers lined up, but that fell through for the time being. i'm still plugging away, but i'm ready for something to go through. i also found out that the relationship i had for almost 8 years was nothing but lies, cheating and betrayal. somehow i have survived it all.

today i'm sitting in a hotel room in Fort Wayne, IN waiting on my kids and sister. my birthday was December 25th and my Dad passed away unexpectedly on December 27th from congestive heart failure. the doctors were sure he would be fine and cannot give us a reason that he died, but he is gone and i am here for the funeral and to say goodbye to Fort Wayne forever.

it's funny but everything seems to be pointing to the total end of my life as i knew it, and maybe it's all about welcoming in the new and better version of it. i certainly hope that is the case.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! to everyone on this website and may this new year of 2013 be the best year you've ever had yet! best wishes to you all.

I like the way you put that.I'm sorry to read about losing your dad.I know what it is like to lose someone at this time of year.I also know what it feels like to have everything pointing to the end of my life as I knew it. I do think that you got it right that in closing one part of your life as it was a new and better version will begin.

thank you for stopping by. thank you for those encouraging words and letting me know i'm not the only one this is happening to. i don't mind leaving the old life behind, but i'm not real crazy about how it's being done. i guess i will just do my best to go with the flow and see how it all turns out.

I don't know what to do. So far I have read one of dean's books and in it it recommends the Success Academy. I called yesterday and everything was fine, but when i discussed it with my mom she said no. I then go online and hear bad things of the Success Academy/PMI. I know that i can realize my dreams through real estate, but i need further guidance and direction that i believe that i can get through PMI. Should i believe the negative things about PMI? Can others who went through the Success Academy give me advice?

i sent you a PM. i apologize for not seeing this sooner. i hope you will let us know what you decided to do, why, and how is it working out for you. thanks.

after one of the posts i just read and posted on, it is almost scary to post anything on mentoring and coaching. but, i'm gonna do it anyway. funny that would be on here and the post above from jnam43512.

i just took on a student in February. she had already been bilked out of some money and never got anything in return except a lot of worry and upset. she asked me to coach her a long time ago, but i said i couldn't do it for free anymore. what she heard was just "no". i was fine with that because i wasn't looking for a student and never solicited anyone. even when i sold some of my contracts to a fellow REI club member, he came looking for me. i prefer it that way too.

anyway, my student is a fellow REI club member as well. she really wants to invest, but as many of us are, she wants that hand holding and push to keep going. i always insist on a contract and told her she had to read every word of it and understand it before she signed it. she did and even had to look up some of the words. then she paid me $100 down nonrefundable (and she had the money to do it) and i will get 40% of the net profit on her first 3 deals. the $100 down was in case she never does a deal, i will at least get a little money for my time and i told her that. she was actually offering me more than what i drew up the contract for, so i feel good that i made her a better deal than she came up with. we talk once a week on Skype because i live outside of Tulsa, so we save on gas and drive time, yet we can talk almost like being in person. i may visit a few properties with her, but she knows she is doing the work and i am giving the direction. the contract is for 6 months and we can extend it if we decide to.

i did finish my RE app, but my new daughter-in-law is so busy that she doesn't have time to work on it. i can sell it as an ebook, but i need to get it copyrighted. i guess i will have to be patient on this one.

i just finished my second mentoring call and it went well. i try to keep it at 45-60 minutes, but we went over today. we had lots to talk about and i am doing my best to help her build a solid foundation. i know she can do this and it is fun to watch her excitement. i keep asking myself "how can i be of service" and this is one way for me to do that. now to get next week's lesson ready.

i have to say it's so nice when you get emails from your mentoring student telling you how much they appreciate you and knew you would be a good mentor. that is special appreciation and i love it. she is an awesome person herself, so it's nice that we also build each other up and encourage each other. it can be a 2-way street and it should always be positive and uplifting.

what we say to others is so important. if you have time, watch this video. it's just under an hour long, but it will really make you think about your words.

vimeo.com/48010674

Now that you've gone through the academy, what would you suggest that a starter, like me, should do to build a buyers list?

eager to learn

Now that you've gone through much of the training, what would you suggest that a starter, like me, should do to build a buyers list?

eager to learn

Now that you've gone through much of the training, what would you suggest that a starter, like me, should do to build a buyers list?

eager to learn

i'm a little different concerning a buyer's list. i don't like ghost ads because i don't like lying, and they make me feel dishonest. if it doesn't bother you, you can try it. you will get some calls off them, but then you basically have to say that you no longer have the property, it sold, etc., and my conscience won't allow me to do that.

you can ask for SOLDS (for investment properties) from your REA and ask them to include the buyers' names, but most of them don't know how to do it and they will have to call their help desk to learn how to do it. i've even had the tech people say they don't know how to do it. they can also send you SOLDS and you can look up the new owners yourself in the public records, but be aware that it is very time-consuming.

there is a post on here somewhere that lists something like 80 ways to find buyers. you can try to do a search for it and see if you can find it.

you can use bandit signs, if they are not illegal in your area. i just talked to someone in Milwaukee, WI and they are illegal there and the cops will come after you. you can also put out flyers. there are many ways to do this and you have to think out of the box. also give your card to everyone you know and include them in your bills when you mail a payment.

i would also suggest you join your local REI club if you haven't already. it can be a wealth of information as well as a place to find buyers.

i trust this has helped point you in the right direction.