BEN'S SUCCESS JOURNAL!- Oregon

Congrats and Welcome to the DG Family. Use the info here on this site to help you along the way.

Be sure to use the 'Main Sections' on left side of the page and the 'Student Resources' for tools and contracts, etc. Also read the Real Estate Forums.

If you find yourself looking for something in particular you can type in the words in the search box located under Deans chin and hit enter.

Thanks for your help and encouragement. I do construction and have been working for the same company for 8 months now but they are a month behind on paying me. This has been going on for 3 months now and I have made my mind up that I'm not going back Monday. I have many other contractors I work for from time to time but nothing right now. I am more motivated than ever to make my first deal happen. Now that I won't be working (at least for a few days) I am going to make this my full time job and I am really excited!

I am going to look at the first property tomorrow so I can assess the repair cost and put in an offer

I just watched Dean's blog and it is great that he has given himself the opportunity to help so many people. Not only all of his students, but many others. Matt made a great point. I need to roll the throttle back and get moving. As of tomorrow morning I have decided not to go back to the job where I have been working because, as I mentioned before they are a month behind paying me, and REI will be a full time job.( Don't be alarmed, I still have work just not immediately) I am excited, and I will be meeting alot of people in the next few days and hopefully getting a deal made right away.

Oh yeah, my wife and I have a baby girl due any day so that is my biggest motivation to get a deal done NOW!

Kenny & I are fairly new to REI and to Dean's website.
Excited and nervous at the same time. My last day on my job was Friday with the plan of making REI my full-time job, also. We have some property right now, but after reading Dean's books and getting on the website, we are ready to do this a little differently; like Not using all our savings to make purchases.
So, Good Luck to You!

Chris

Thanks, let me know how things go for you. I will look for your journal.

I haven't worked at the pace I'd hoped but I am ready to get going again. My wife had a baby girl sunday, June 12th and had a very busy week, but now I'm ready to get after it. My next step will be to get an llc and buy some signs to attract sellers. My thinking is that a business entity will give me a more professional look and I will be taken more seriously buy legitemate investors and sellers (especially since I have no deals under my belt). Then I will go out and find sellers. I have two potential investors on my list and I want to bring them some deals and just expand from there.

Any thoughts or advice on the llc?

I think this will make me more confident when dealing with people if I have a real business, but I'm open to suggestions.

Hi Ben

I highly highly highly suggest becoming a member of pre-paid legal. They're a national law firm that have offices all over the country. The cost to become a member is really really low and it has a monthly fee of $10 to $20 depending on where you are located in the country. I think I pay $17/month here in Seattle. I signed up with them and they walked me step by step through setting up my LLC. And the best part is their service was FREE (the LLC wasn't free of course but their service was)! All you pay is the monthly fee and you can call for legal advice anytime during business hours. They have attorneys who specialize in everything and I can't say enough about them.

Additionally, I can send them contracts for review anytime I need and they will review them for free. I've sent quite a few lease option contracts over to them and it didn't cost me a dime.

Join pre-paid legal

That sounds great, I will check into that tomorrow.

Thanks, Ben

Ok, I'm ready to make a deal happen NOW! I have been working on this house for a while now and I want to make it happen this week! I have a short sale. I have all the numbers down. I need help to know exactly what order to do this. I will write what I think I am supposed to do and if anything is wrong or missing PLEASE jump in and straighten me out!

I already have a property

1. Find buyer
2. Get POF from buyer
3. Get Transactional Funds from bank based on buyer's POF
4. Submit offer
5. Sign A to B purchase agreement
5. Sign B to C purchase agreement and close

I know I'm missing details but I'm unsure of exactly what. There has to be some kind of escape clause in case my buyer bails RIGHT? Will just the usual " subject to inspection" or "contingent on financing"?

If I have transactional funds does that nullify a financing contingency?

If I have an attorney handle the transaction do I still need to have a title company close for me?

What, if any contract do I need to have between my end buyer and myself to guarantee they will buy the property?

Is it a mistake to show the property or give the address out before I verify the buyer's funds?

I know that's alot of questions and I'm sure I'll have more before I'm done here but I think I have a great potential deal here and I want to make this happen NOW! No more delay! No more excuses!

Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Ben

Anyone?

I put an ad on Craigslist for this house last night and got 3 e-mails this morning! They all want to see it! I still haven't put in an offer because the agent said she wanted to see POF before she did. How should I handle this?

http://www.coastal-funding.com/

This is where I get POF right?

My question is: Do I need a buyer with POF if I don't have enough money?

I just got another e-mail. I have 5 potential buyers now and I don't know if I need them to give me POF in order to get my own POF to submit an offer.

Thanks for the link, Ben

Yes http://www.coastal-funding.com/ is one of a few sources for proof of funds as well as a bank/IRA statement. I got that info from the EDGE 2010 DVD's. I'm still working on my first deal so I can't go into detail...I don't want to tell you the wrong thing. Sorry Ben...

do you realize that most short sales take months to close? they aren't usually a quick deal, whereas REO's go quicker. the banks can also jerk you around a lot, accept your offer, then turn it down. is there an easier deal out there? just my thoughts....

I do know that short sales can be very trying and this one fell through just because they found an older woman that wanted it at FMV. The realtor I am working with said she closed on the last one in 21 days and has plenty of experience with short sales, so that's why I was willing to try it, but thanks for the warning.

I spoke with her about wholesaling and peaked her interest, so now she has shown me a house in downtown Bend in the historic district.

FMV $172,000

Listed Price $114,900

Rehab Est. $10,000-$15,000 (haven't done a walk through, just looked at the outside)

This is an REO so it will likely have to be a double close but I think it has potential. The downtown area in Bend is VERY desired.

Next possible deal, just have to go see it and come up with an offer.

Location Location Location!

This area rarely has houses up for sale very long. They move very fast, but i think the extensive rehab on this one may be scaring some of the homeowners away.

I will be placing flyers for investors on cars at Eagle Crest Resort here in Redmond
and around Bend. I will also be placing some around town for sellers.

That last deal was not a total loss, I have contact info for 8 potential buyers now! And a seemingly well connected realtor. May prove to have been worth the effort just for that reason alone.

That last house turned out to be an auction, so I opted out.

I have made some goals for the week and here they are:

-Find a mortgage broker and find out what his minimum requirements are for a first time home buyer. I did this and I think I may have found a good broker

-get signs and flyers out and add an extension for investors. I plan on adding the extension tonight and placing more flyers out tomorrow. I haven't gotten my signs yet but they should be here this week.

-contact owners of several homes I have found in the area that appear abandoned or unoccupied.

I also called the success academy and did my first phone interview. I found out that you can make payments and I am very excited to join when I get paid.I think I could use the direction and focus. I know what I want, and I know how to get it, but I think the success academy will accellerate the process and make a deal happen fast.

Thanks, Ben

I just bought it online and I am really excited to read it.

I just got done checking out my totalview account, I've been using totalview as an FMV site for months but I didn't know it had so much great info on it.

Keep your focus and STAY DETERMINED to make things happen. Congratulations on the action your taking.don't let anyone steer u away from your real estate goals!!! WAY TO GO BEN! !
JAY

I see you've been busy making things happen.

I haven't commented for a while, but I have been reading Dean's book and anxiously awaiting my 30 bandit signs in the mail.

Put some flyers out with no success. I'm going to try Greg Murphy's approach. Hand witten and simple.

I just spoke to a realtor today and found out there are 400 foreclosures about to hit the Central Oregon market in the next month or so.

I think my signs will be arriving at just the right time to cash in on this next wave.

Going to look at a property tomorrow with a realtor.

I saw this one about 6 weeks ago. It was listed for $214,000 at FMV and it last sold in 2006 for $1,200,000.

It's now valued at $338,000. Big jump. 10 acres about 15 feet on the other side of a fence from a subdivision. Nice house, private well.

It has been on the market for 4 months, so I will try to negotiate an extremely low offer and see what happens. Gotta take action!

Thanks for all the support,

Ben

Well, I just met with a realtor yesterday that told me there are actually 400 foreclosures set to hit next month and another 600 will hit sometime between august and october. Crazy!

The lack of inventory has increased prices and buyers are actually having bidding wars!

I think this is a unique opportunity for the REI, because I may be able to get to some of these people before they foreclose and with the uptick in the market the homes may sell for more!

I hope that's the way it plays out

I just got my bandit signs yesterday, today I am going to write on them and stick them in the ground today, plus I will put out more flyers.

I posted 4 flyers yesterday on my lunch break

My brother is reading Dean't new book also and is getting out there networking and even has a few signs.

That's awesome!

Thanks, Ben

I just put 15 "seller" signs all around town and I have to admit I was a little nervous because I have lived in this area for 24 years and it isn't a very big town.

In fact, as I was putting one in the ground, my father in law and my brother in law drove by and waved.

I made my mind up a few days ago that I have to stop letting my inhibitions about telling everyone what I'm doing prevent me from being successful.

Anyway, I did it and I have 15 more. I'm not sure if they will be more "seller" ads or some "buyer" ads.

This little town is gonna be littered with my yellow bandit signs.

I also posted an ad on Craigslist and on Kijiji for buyers.

Tomorrow will be more flyers

Taking action!

Thanks, Ben

Well, I got one call on my signs so far. A cop.

I called him back and he hasn't responded yet, but I hope there's not some law that prevents me from using these here.

I guess I'll find out

The cop was just calling because some concerned citizen wanted to know if this is some sort of scam. I found out through talking to the cop that I have to be licensed as a business throught the city. Working on that, and I plan on starting an LLC.

I got a call on my sign and the guy has to negotiate a short sale in order to make this work, so I e-mailed the agent I have been talking to, and he said he is absolutely interested in working on this deal and helping me negotiate the short sale.

We'll see how it goes.

Thanks, Ben

I spoke with the seller and he is very interested in letting me get a short sale negotiated and sell to an investor.

This guy was very unemotional, he let go of saving his house months ago, so we got right into the numbers.

I am going to try and get an offer negotiated that I can make money on, but I told my real estate agent that if he can't get the price I want, I would refer the seller to him and he can short sell it himself, because I would rather see the seller get out of his home without foreclosing than just tell him I can't help him.

He suggested that if his pricipal broker would allow it, he would pay me for referral, in this case.

Was it a mistake to offer this to my real estate agent? He seems genuine, and excited to work with me, so I don't think he'll go straght for option 2, but that would make him more on this deal, and probably for less time.

I have told him of my plan to get a constant flow of deals coming and use him if he would work with me, so I guess I am just hoping he will not want to lose the potential future work for one deal.

Any suggestions on negotiating a short sale would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Ben

I haven't done a deal yet, though I can feel it. It's all coming together.

The fear is gone, thanks to all of you on this site, months of education, and Dean, I have more confidence than ever.

I am talking to everyone I meet about Real Estate, and I love every minute.

I am excited for every step.

I can see Real Estate is for me. This is where I am meant to be. I can smell the freedom of NO JOB, NO BOSS, FINANCIAL FREEDOM!

Tomorrow I will be getting all of my signs and changing the number to my personal line, because of the advice of a very successful, fellow DGer.

Just wanted to thank everyone for taking the time to answer all of my questions and offer encouragement.

Paying it forward, that's half the fun.

Well, I have been really busy. Not only with REI, but also with my day job, nevertheless, I have been making good progress.

I have an agent that I am working with to look for good deals, although he doesn't seem interested in looking for cash buyers.

I have all of my signs changed and I will be getting up at 3:30 tomorrow morning, so I can drive to Bend ( 20 minutes away ) and put them out at all the busiest intersections before they are flooded with traffic.

Most of the buyers I have talked to are more interested in Bend, and the returns seem to be better, so I have decided to focus my energy there.

I have two more RE/MAX offices to call tomorrow at lunch.

I have been using Matt's formula from "30 days quick cash" to do comps and analyze properties in Bend, so I can familiarize myself with the prices and zip codes.

I gave a verbal offer to my agent on one REO. He said they had offers for asking price, so I e-mailed him explaining the fact that we need to stay away from bidding wars, and focus on properties that have been overlooked.

He sent me a listing this morning that is listed 25% below FMV and has been on the MLS for 195 days.

I will be looking at it tomorrow if my agent can meet me after work, if not, wednesday.

UGH! busy, busy, busy.

Good busy though. I am so amped.

This is the first thing I have ever done that I am this passionate about and dedicated to.

I LOVE real estate!

I got up really early yesterday and put up the 15 signs that I have left.

At the major intersections by all Mcdonald's stores just like Matt Larson says.

Oh, and I changed the number to my personal line.

I have gotten about 20 calls. Probably 8 or 9 real leads.

I got one buyer also.

I made an offer on a property my agent showed me, and I talked to another investor.

In the e-mail to my agent with my offer and POF I also requested again that he work on a list of cash buyers.

I told him that if we make a few deals, I will bring him in on my own finds, and the list will allow me to broaden my search and lock-up and sell more properties.

Bringing me more profits, and him more commissions.

We'll see what he says.

Hi Ben!
I am glad I logged on to DG tonight and saw your journal in the upper right corner. I cracked up when I read about your father and brother in law driving by and waving while you put up one of your bandit signs. I can picture that scene in my head and it looks hilarious!
Great job on your journal, it makes me feel like I need to take more action. I can't let my little brother get ahead of me!
I love you Bro.

I think you're doing great.

It was pretty funny. They looked at me with a very puzzled look and waved.

But it did break the ice and made it easier to talk to them about REI.

They were much more supportive than I expected. I guess you just have to get over the anxiety.

Now I tell everyone I know.