From This Day Forward-Kareng's Journal

I'll PM you.

We looked @ one yesterday that used to be a duplex but was opened up to a one family. Could be made back into duplex. Has two kitchens and two full bathrooms.

The guy is very motivated and wanting to sell it right away. I think it can be snatched up for $9K. I can find out more about it today. If any of you are interested contact me right away.

I am glad to hear that your trip is all that and more!
Sounds like you are having a great time looking at all those properties! Do your due dilligence!

we'll talk soon!

Val

See you on FB, already sent you a friend me.

WOO HOO:) Well let me know if your looking for more like that karen we got em all over the place here:) Matter of fact got one under contract now for 7k:) So are you not doing the L/O?

Sounds nothing like here is CA! When we talk, I want to hear about this! What an exciting thing to happen! Here's to at LEAST 5 deals!

I put in about 40 contact referrals, or whatever you call them on FB. I see that quite a few have already followed thru.

Happy new friending!

investorinmissouri wrote:

WOO HOO:) Well let me know if your looking for more like that karen we got em all over the place here:) Matter of fact got one under contract now for 7k:) So are you not doing the L/O?

Oh yeah! Still doing L/Os! Got everything set up. When I get home I have now 3,000 brochures going out on my L/Os. Then I will be buying more property here!

It may have taken me a while to get everything ready but now I am ready to ROCK!!!

well, girlfriend, it looks like it's all happening at once for you. congratulations! i know you have the energy for it. have fun!

Preparing to head home this morning.

This has been a great trip. Even though SO HOT! Yesterday was 106º!!! I am missing the 80s that we had been having in CA when I left.

Unfortunately, the heat and in and out of the a/c has made me ill. Or, I am guessing that is what it is. I have been coughing and so stuffy and just feeling crummy yesterday and this morning. This, too, shall pass.

I am still talking back and forth with the title company. We have been communicating via email and I just keep having more and more questions, so I told him in the last email I would give him a call later.

Also, I am getting our contracts set up. Hoping we can close in about a wk. They said they can FedEx me the paperwork to sign for the closing. Love that!

I've been reading your journal for awhile now. I finally made it to the end and thought I'd drop you a quick note. I can't tell you how much I admire you tenacity, and stick-to-it-iveness. It gives me hope. I was first exposed to DG in January, but a family loss made it difficult for me to take advantage. I'm ready to do somethng now, and your jouney is very motivating. Keep it going. Maybe we will do some deals in the future.

Hi Karen,

I hope you had a good flight back home- you got so much done in so little time- that is amazing!
I am so glad things are moving fast forward for you... I knew it would happen soon!

Looking forward to hearing more about it!

Val

Hi ! I didn't catch up on all of the content from the last 6 pages but it sounds like you are going to make it happen. Where I didn't catch . Also I found the system didn't give me up for lost and gone, LOL . Hope you are getting your health back up sooon !

Also see they changed my status again.

You left / went off with leaving any words of wisdom today. Hope things turn out right.

responding to your thread here. Just spent some hours reading it. nobody reads mine, at least no one responds to it.

Lots of great information here to. I liked the ads you posted here. Will have to see if they work here. I know the ones I have used certainly don't.

Thank you for talking to me today, and I hope we can stay in touch.

Just dropping in to say hi.

Hi Karen. I have not stopped by here in a while so I thought I would stop by today and say hi.

I hope everything is going well with you.
You take care Karen.

Steve.

I'm so glad to have you here. I need to be a little more conscientious about keeping this thing updated.

Where are you from? Your bio doesn't give much info.

So sorry for your family loss. I'm glad that you are back and I hope to hear more from you.

As always, it's good to see you.

Stay tuned for my update. I am trying to play catch up here today.

I'm glad you have been overcoming your obstacles and going on to fight another day.

It was good catching up with you last night.

Stay tough. Don't let the bad guy win.

Congrats on the upgrade! Beep! Beep!

It was a pleasure talking with you. I am glad that you called.

I actually DID go to your journal and I posted. What I did originally to get traffic to mine was when I would post on other people's journals, I would invite them to visit mine. You can even post the link with the invitation. It worked!

Glad that the contact referrals helped. I saw that you have been connecting with them.

I'm always glad to see you. Update is coming in just a few minutes. Be sure to ck back in.

Where to start? A fellow DGer that I had met in Phoenix @ The Edge had told me about the amazing deals that he was finding there. It had sounded pretty interesting but I had decided to just concentrate on my L/O goal right now, so I had not followed up.

A couple of weeks ago he called and touched base with me. It sounded very tempting and I allowed myself to get sidetracked.

My DG friend was actually bird dogging for another guy who had the props. I had spoken with him (the prop owner) on the phone for quite a while also, and was impressed at his knowledge. I called and booked a flight for the following Sun (about four days later) and started researching the area and some of the addresses that they furnished me.

Because of booking so late, I couldn't get a direct flight for a reasonable cost, so I had to fly from LA (pass over Memphis) to Charlotte (big mistake) and then back two hours to Memphis. They were having storms in Charlotte, so I was delayed about four hours and didn't get to Memphis until about 3am.

The guys picked me up on Mon morning and we started touring. Memphis is a very nice town, but all of the neighborhoods that we went to, literally half the houses are boarded up. This is not an exaggeration! I was shocked. Very cute little houses (most of them brick) but all closed up.

I am glad that I went because when you spend three days touring with people a lot more things come out that people aren't even aware that they are saying. Flags started popping up. And I was looking at investing a lot of money and being 2,000 miles away!

They pointed out houses similar to what I was thinking of buying that had been rehabbed and were sitting empty waiting for renters. I was told that the guy who owned them owned fifty all over the city--all empty.

The guy (prop owner) had told me he was a contractor and I told him I would need a copy of his license. After telling him I absolutely needed that to proceed, he admitted that he wasn't "really licensed" but he was "certified". (whatever that means). In doing my due diligence, one of the houses was not even showing in his name, but he was "getting that all worked out".

I did find several properties that would turn very good numbers IF they were rented. Big if...

I decided this was not going to be the best decision for me right now.

My trip to Memphis ended up being a bust. I was going to buy four properties, but during my three days there several red flags popped up and so I decided I was not going to take the risk. I am glad that I went or I may have made a HUGE mistake.

It was 106º there and I was out in the weather a lot. By the third day I was getting pretty sick, coughing my head off. I flew home on Thursday and felt like crap. The next two days, even worse. I am now almost recovered but still don't have my energy back. Still have my cough, but it is getting better.

I have decided to go back to my original plan. Concentrate on my Lease Options and then invest in some houses in South Carolina. Much safer.

I honestly do not think that the guys were trying to pull anything over on me. I just feel that they are young and anxious to make the best of this market (which we all are), but that they are trying to bite off more than they can chew, too fast.

I wish the best for them, but I cannot take the risk and cannot risk referring my friends to them.

I want to extend a HUGE THANK YOU to Jim and Bill for all their guidance and input during all this. You guys are the best friends EVER!

Karen

My VA got everything fixed. She felt really bad about it all. I did not realize it but she was getting married in a couple of days when she got my labels done initially. Which could very well explain the mistake.

She fixed the originals that were first pulled in May and ran any additional ones that have come up since. I ended up with 3,047!

While I was in Memphis, my daughter #1, who is my business partner, relabeled them and got the count breakdown (according to zip codes).

I got all the brochures organized in the mailing trays and all the forms filled out and on Wednesday I was at the post office as soon as that area (bulk mail) opened. After four hours, I had paid my postage (almost $700) and was ready to transport 60 pounds of the brochures to a post office 30 miles away. This is part of the bulk mail drudgery. Part of the reason for the discount. (I saved about $650)

I was told I needed an appt at the destination PO for the drop. It must be made on the computer. "No", I can't use theirs...

So back home and... have you EVER tried to do anything on a government type of website????? (I know the PO is privately owned, but they have to be related to the government on this level!) After about a frigging hour trying to no avail to find how to make an appt I called a number I had written down from somewhere thru all this and called.

The guy gave me a number for "Andy" at the drop site. I finally reached "Andy". What a breath of fresh air!

Andy said he was there until 10:30 pm. Just come on up, without an appt and he would help me!!!! Must be because he works the late shift that he was so helpful. I don't know, but you know what they say about a gift horse.

I drove the 30 miles (one way). Made my drop. Andy said, "Thank you". And I was finished!!!! I wanted to kiss that Andy guy! How many weeks have I been working on this mailing?

Anyway, there are now 3,047 people getting ready to get my brochure in the mail. They are going to be SO happy!

I am already getting in touch with my graphic designer to design a post card to send to the same list in about four weeks.

I know, I know. I am a glutton for punishment... Just another name for real estate investor!

congratulations! you got your brochures mailed out! I don't understand why the people at the P.O. gave you such a hard time-recently, at least in my area, they are being extremely helpful-seriously! I thought it was the same everywhere because they are not getting a lot of business, and are really hurting... anyway, who cares, as you say, 3047 people are going to be very happy! wow, that's a lot of brochures!

I'm glad you're sticking to your original plan on L/Os- I think you have so much knowledge on that, so not a doubt that you will have great success doing it.

Memphis? either way, it was a great experience for you; and you got to visit another place!

Learning and progressing every day,
Val

Yep, back to Plan A!

I miss you! We need another pajama party!

Karen

Karen,

I agree, we need to do that again soon! it's nice to bounce ideas of each other, and talk rei non-stop all night long (with a glass of wine in hand)

Tomorrow we're driving out to the 'country' to look at a property that's FSBO-wish me luck!

Have a great weekend,
Val

We should get to know each others markets, since they are all so different. Stockton and bakersfield were rated in the top ten places to buy rental properties in an article a few weeks ago and an article posted on Yahoo yesterday had Merced (where I have been doing my deals) as #5 out of the top ten places with declining values in RE in the US. So much to think about - even 20-30 miles apart in the central valley.

Karen -
I am so impressed by how thorough you are with your investigations. This is so important. I will have to talk to you more about SC.

Judi

Lets get this party started quickly before I lose my sanity!

Good job on doing your due diligence! You can never be too cautious! It sounds like the rental market there is similar to my GA property. But, I still got a tenant in there, just for a little lower rent than I wanted.

I'm going to do a lease option on one of my CA properties that is coming vacant at the end of the month. Will be my first lease option! The other one in IN was a lease PURCHASE because I wanted to make sure the buyers followed through and didn't opt out. It was an intentional decision as I have no desire to hold the property due to the liability with the lake in the back!

We need to chat on the phone sometime!