OfflineWell, here I am. After having owned DG's book for over a year and having it just collecting dust on the bookshelf filled with tried and failed attempts of making a future for myself, I finally picked up DG's book and started to read.
Once I got past chapter 3, it turned into an interesting book. You know the kind of book I'm talking about, the kind of book that if you put it down you're afraid you'll miss something important. I spent 10 hours reading the book in one sitting, by 8AM I was done. So I read it again, this time with a highlighter highlighting everything I found useful or thought I should remember.
I am completely new to this investing thing and my story is a story for the record books. Been unemployed since September and finally life has gotten to the point that something has got to change. And like DG says in his book, if not this now, what when?
I personally like the idea of using a real estate agent to run contracts and contract assignments. I think that is a route that I will take initially and eventually move into purchasing homes I find with cash, spending a little to fix them up and either resell or run rental properties out of them.
The last couple days I've been looking at some real estate and I've found some decent ones and some not so decent ones. The best property I have found is valued around $140,000. Over the last 9 months it's had its price reduced 5 times and is now listed at $109,000. I've put in a low-ball over of $78,000 and with the hopes that they'll either accept it or counter-offer me with something less than $90,000 though less than $85,000 would be preferable. We'll see what happens with my first offer.
Welp thats me and what I'm about to venture on. Onward and Upward and let me finally make something of my name.
-- Justin from UT
In my previous post I stated that I had the DG book for over a year without reading it. Since posting this post I have read the book 2 more times. It has gotten me excited and scared all at the same time.
I start thinking to myself 'is this for me' or 'can I really do this'. You see for me, it will be a long hard road. Without internet at home, without a car and barely with a home at all it will be hard.
When I think of all the things that need to get done it makes me wonder how to put my new found knowledge into action and what do I do first. Do I try to line up buyers and specifically find properties for these buyers, or do I line up sellers and find buyers to match the properties. Either way, it's going to be difficult.
The last few days has been a rollercoaster of emotions and thought provoking questions asked to myself and trying to research the right answers. Do I want a RE agent? If I happen to be lucky enough to find one like Matt's how would payment work for my agent to make it lucrative enough for both parties since plenty of my deals will come from sellers via an RE Agent.
How do I properly figure out the FMV for a home I am looking at and interested in locking up on contract (or lease with option to purchase). Where do I go to make the contacts necessary with a mortgage broker to help potential buyers who aren't cash buyers obtain funding.
There are many more questions that I have gone over the last few days, and some I have the answers to and others I suppose I don't know if I'll ever have the answer to. All that matters right now is I figure out the best method that will work for me in my situation. I could do the online thing from wondering around town hi-jacking any available wifi I can find on my iPhone or going to the department of workforce services.
Without the money to put up, online seems like a viable option for me and I'll try and attempt that to line up both buyers and sellers and match them together based on their wants/needs. So, I need an ad for CL, KSL (local news station with a classifieds portion on their site), as well as other websites. Okay so do I try and design a good looking ad, or do I just create a wall of text.. What are the benefits of both, and what are the draw backs? What do I want to say? and of course what type of property am I looking for? And since I intend to get phone calls, what on earth do I want to say in my voice mail message as I'll have to use my cell-phone to begin with.
All the questions keep flooding in, and with no end in sight, can make the newbie just tired and feel like giving up. It's been less than a week of constant non-stop reading, re-reading and researching the dg forums and I've thought about not continuing. But like DG said in his book, if not this now then what when?
I think a lot of my issues I have with this, is I just don't understand the fundamentals behind buying a house or property. Sure I own some property currently (valued @ $2,200), but even that was given to me by a relative when they passed. Having never dealt with RE or REI previously I am out of my comfort zone, but no guts no glory...nothing ventured nothing gained... Life is what we make it, and here I go on my way to make it the way I want it not how society says it should be.
I'll try to update this journal as much as possible on my progress during these coming weeks and if all goes well I'll have figured something out at some point. If you have any interesting tidbits of information, contracts you use (other than the DG ones), or just inspiring bits of wisdom I would be happy to hear it all.
Thanks for reading, and and here's looking forward to a prosperous future!
-- Justin in UT