Invest_Midwest Journal

Wishing you luck!

You will be greatly surprised at how many of us will be reading your posts and here to cheer you on!

You and Sheila are doing a fantastic job!

Got my two emails from Sheila today. I appreciate the sharing.

Karen

I laughed when I saw that you had been referred to as "Mr. Sheila". Then when I was looking back over one of her threads saw that I was actually the culprit who called you THAT!!!

Glad we have your proper name now!

Karen

congrats on your deals with your wife, and starting your own journal; I'll be eagerly waiting for your posts on your wholesaling endeavor, something I haven't done either, but hopefully will find the knowledge and courage to do soon too!

wishing you great success,
Valerie

It seems the best way to stay focused and actually accomplish what you set out to do is to make yourself accountable. So, by doing this journal (in order not to look like a fool) I will need to take action.

This journal is my accountability partner for now and I need to commit to it. Thank you for the support! I hope the business plan is benificial to you some how!

So we decided we need a snow plow because we have a lot of driveways and parking lots. Rather than pay someone else, we could do it ourselves and maybe even make a little extra cash this winter. We need a truck anyway for hauling materials and pulling a lawn mower trailer.

So I used Dean's strategy and posted a craigslist ad: "I buy snow plows, CASH!" well something like that... So, a farmer replies to my ad with a decent plow. He's asking $4500. So I did my due diligence, ran some comps and found out that my ARV would be around $6,000. Since I don't plan on repairng it, it's a fair deal. I offered $3500 cash and he's thinking it over.

Get this, I mentioned that I had some rental property and was going to use the plow for that. Turns out his dad has about 8 houses and is going into the nursing home. He wants to sell them all. "Pretty cool" I thought.... "Finding motivated sellers isn't going to be my issue." I've got the addresses and he has agreed to do a lease option on anything that I"m interested in. I haven't ran the comps on these yet and haven't made any offers. They are all rented and in fair condition.

So, now I need to see if any of them will be deals. He hasn't given me a rock-bottom price yet so I have nothing to go off of yet. I have a Landlord Association meeting next Tuesday, need to pass out business cards and see who's buying. Maybe I'll make a match.

Well, my boy just made his sister cry... Guess that's all for now. Gotta go!

Too much going on with rehabbing the apartments, couldn't make it to the landlord meeting. Kind of disappointing but work had to be done. Oh well, I have the email addresses from the mass email that they sent out so I'll just have to introduce myself that way. One of the members called me after the meeting to congratulate me on the deals we did last month. (apparently it was the talk of the meeting) He knew us from networking before. His style is lease options and this "flex" option contract that I've read about. I personally think it's a crappy contract because it doesn't protect you as the middle man. I think he's given up on that.

He casually mentioned that he just got his realtor liscence and is doing a little property management (hint hint...)

What we need is an office secretary! Can only be in so many places at a time. I'm taking care of the kiddo's and overseeing the easy properties. It's great to finally get to be around my kids, I used to work 70 hour weeks and missed a lot of their "moments" because of it.

Well, my snow plow guy hasn't accepted my lowball offer. I would try the 25:1 technique but there are only 2 in my area. So far nobody wants to give one away. I checked up on his dad's properties on "total view." they show about what I thought they would be. I'm going to see what his price is on them for lease option or cash offers. Maybe he'll take a low offer and throw the plow in with it....

Realtor sent me 3 houses that fit my category today. There aren't that many listed in town or he didn't try hard enough. Anyway, I'll have to look at the comps and make some low offers. I drove by and luckily they all look empty and cosmetically lacking. So I'll figure out what the ARV is, then get inside and see what the damage is. Hopefully I'll be able to get the price to where I need it and get one accepted.

While I was out, I stumbled upon 3 FSBO's. The first was asking about $20,000 more than it was worth when the market was good! (good luck with that!) The other 2 look empty and may be very motivated sellers. I haven't called them yet, I want to run some comps tonight and know what they are worth when talking to sellers tomorrow. I've gotten sick of hearing about how great their house is and how it's worth $80k and doesn't need anything only to find that it would only really be worth about $60k... after putting $20k into it. (They hate to hear the facts so, I make an offer based on my numbers and usually offend them... I need to work on my delivery!) I figure I'll check the comps first this time just because there are only a couple. This will help me know if they are full of crap or not!

We'll see... Maybe somebody is just waiting by the phone in desperate need to sell their house.

Still no luck finding real buyers. Ghost ads bring in wanna-be's with no money. Sometimes a guy who flipped a house in the 80's and may know somebody 500 miles away who may be interested in maybe thinking about the possibility of considering potentially buying real estate someday... maybe...

I guess if I can't find a buyer and land one of these deals, I'll just have to keep it. Oh well, we'll see what happens. I'm going to send my snow plow guy another email about his properties, see if he's got some numbers for me yet.

Oh yeah, we sent our video into Dean's contest last week. It's not on the site yet, we're hoping it's not as lame as we think it will be. Sorry in advance if it is...

Merry Christmas! PM me if you want to see the rant, I'll email it to you...

Yep, I read every word. IMHO by having that knowledge you already won the life lottery. How wonderful the world would be if more people knew, understood and applied what you have written.

"Gods will be done not mine"

Best Wishes, Merry Christmas!

The message has been blurred over the years and we no longer see Jesus as a Savior. People see Him as a "life enhancer" that makes all of their problems go away. Sadly, when their problems come back, they blame God and turn away from Christ. If people truly get the right message and apply it, That's all one really needs!

I put an ad out on craigslist and found a wanna be investor with cash. He and his wife are at the point they realize they are making no money in the stock market and their 401k is useless. They're making no interest in the banks either. He wants to get into real estate.

My ad got me a few calls from wholesalers and small investors, better results than my last one. When he called, I told him that I had property and several rehabs in the works. I explained briefly about how I'm getting a lot of deals at 60% of their fair market value and don't have the time to buy them all. My intent was to wholesale some to him (I've changed my mind).

So he and I looked at 6 houses today. 2 FSBO, 2 regular MLS and 2 foreclosures. We've decided to make offers on 1 of each.

#1. We've already got the FSBO to agree to $16K cash offer, house is only worth about $25K but needs no work. (It only needs stove and fridge.) Buyer wants to move forward with it. ROI would be 15%, it rents at $400-$450 a month and I could probably have wholesaled it at $18k but I've decided that I may just partner up on this one and keep it. So again, no wholesale.

#2. A nice 2 and 1 that need updated bathroom and kitchen appliances. It needs a garage tore down and hauled off before it collapses. 200+ DOM, vacant and price reduced from $52K to $41k. BPO says it's ARV will be $60K and needs about $8500 rehab. I think we'll offer at $29k and see what happens. It would rent for $600/m and have a 15% ROI if occupied most of the time.

#3. Fannie home with 27 DOM, already has 2 offers on it. Another 2 and 1 with a lot of room. It has an ARV of $65K. Listed at $42K now and needs tub ripped out and new shower put in. Needs appliances and hardwood floors refinished or carpeted. Probably take out a huge window and put in a bay. We are looking at around $8500 on this rehab also. It would rent for $600/m and would have about a 15% ROI. We will offer at $35K and could still make around $20k on a flip. Realtor says it wouldn't last a month on the MLS if priced at $60-$65k when fixed up.

If anyone has advice on how to structure a partnership that would work for me and this cash buyer please let me know. Instead of wholesaling and leaving, I would to stick around until we flip and or set up a buy and hold LLC with him. Not sure what would be in our best interest. He has the money but little RE experience. I don't want to use my money and have the RE experience. Any advice?

Finished my first wholesale deal last month. Made $500 easy. Working on a possible flip with $20k or more spread. Hoping it works out.

Should have posted last month but life hit me right in the face. I was humbled in my personal life but will recover... back to real estate...

Congratulations!

now, YOU are making it look too easy!

I am new to the midwest, and wondering where you are? I am in Western OK and orginally from Northern Va/Washington, DC area. It's so different out here, I'd love to talk to you more about the differences in the economy in this part of the country.

From you're profile it would appear our stories are similiar. I'm trying to raise 3 small children and get business taken care of. It can be overwhelming but I'm experiencing amazing personal / spiritual growth from what's been dumped in my lap. The sourest lemons I've ever been given yet, there's going to be some great lemonade in the end. Best of luck!

Someone asked me to elaborate on the $500 deal. So here's a quick run down while I have a few minutes. I wanted to wholesale a deal but needed a real cash buyer. I found 5 FSBO's, called them up, got their bottom dollar before I ever looked at the houses. I ran some numbers to see what the ROI would be. I found a few foreclosures and MLS houses too.

Then I posted an ad on Craiglist in the RE category stating that "I am a real estate investor with too much going on to handle all of the great deals coming at me. I've bought up a ton of rehab's and I don't have the time for these other truly great deals. I'm looking for a partner with capital to either work together or take a few of these off of my hands."

This was all a true statement by the way. I was trying to raise 3 kids by myself and didn't have the time I used to have. Anyway, I recieved a few responses but the big one was a well off professional who didn't know much about real estate investing yet, but knew that it was the way to go! So, he and I met and we looked at the 5 houses. He narrowed it down to 2 and I made offers on them using my contracts. I managed all of the paperwork and set up the closings. He agreed to my fee and was more than happy to pay it. I set up the home inspections and contractors for him because he was busy. In the end he got a house at 65% ARV with a 15% ROI and very little work needing to be done. I got $500 and a story.

You never know who is going to be your partner. I showed him how to do some of this and how to run the numbers so he can do it on his own next time. I could have kept on giving him fish but thought it was better to teach him to fish instead. If wholesaling is going to be your livelyhood, don't teach your buyers how to do this yet. Keep your secrets to your self. Once you've made it, then teach others to do the same.

I'm currently working on another deal that will take a long time to finalize but will hopefully be worth the wait!

Best of luck to you all!