Epic Fail

How else can I put this...someone sent me this picture today and it seems so fitting for how this week went. I am pretty sure I burned the bridge with my agent. I missed half of the tasks I needed to complete including being prepared for D4D tomorrow and I haven't received any phone calls from my marketing.

Just means that next week I will have to work even harder. I need to focus on strengthening my marketing...Of course thats what the next 60 days is all about. So this weekend I am going to do a little brainstorming to see what I can do. I also need to find another way to get access to the MLS I have what may be a trick up my sleeve but we will see.

I have a lot of ground to make up. I hope everyone has a good weekend!

Every failure is a lesson learned.

HubCap

What does it take...?

Lately I have seen certain tides turn. Four or five years ago I can tell you that I was a mess. I had no drive and nothing going for me other than Becky, my very supportive wife. One day I woke up and decided it was time to make a change. I noticed that I worked really hard for my boss. I put in extra hours I stood out above the crowd, I moved up two times in 3 years. I starting thinking to myself that if I put in the half the effort for my own business that I do for my job I wouldn't have to have a job anymore. It was this thought process that brought me to where I am today. I questioned myself over and over again until I found what I was looking for. I needed to know why I had failed in the past with starting my business. I have gone into a trance and all I can think about is real estate. It doesn't matter if I am sleeping, eating, working, talking, writing, showering or doing anything I am thinking; real estate. Living and breathing real estate has put me into an unbeatable mentality. I have come to three points now that I know I would have quit at in the past and each time I only pushed myself harder. I have given up any free time I have to invest myself into doing this right. I know that in the end it will be worth it, the best part is I actually enjoy doing what I am doing. I often felt guilty playing video games and watching TV anyways so it is working out for the best. A switch has flipped and there is no turning back or turning off. So even though I haven't closed a deal I know I have already succeeded because I am never going to quit. What did it take for me? Failure.

HubCap

What a week!

I was able to take care of all the tasks on my list for the past week. I am a little late on this post and I got my mailers out 1 day after I had planned but I got everything done. Calling all those lawyers seems to have paid off because I talked to one this past week who seemed very comfortable with what I am trying to do. For me that was the link that was missing. There is nothing standing in my way except having a deal in hand.

So here I am 6 days ahead of schedule ready to start marketing. As said before my plan is to get as many leads as I can without putting up bandit signs and going door to door. The reason for this is leverage of time but mainly because of funding. As of now I have 3 sources that I can market; the first is craigslist and other similar sites, the second is the leads I find during driving for dollars and the third is REO's and expired listings off the MLS.

It is important that while I am marketing I am continuing my education. Throughout the week I have been writing down questions that I feel I need to have answered.

Here is my to-do for this week.

Monday
Post ads on craigslist and other sites
look up owners of D4D leads
call Gogo to discuss an opportunity he lined up for personal access to the MLS
Read Contracts book

Tuesday
Prepare mailers
HUD-1:filling it out
Read Contracts book

Wednesday
Hard money
make copies of property inspection report
send mailers
Read Contracts book

Thursday
Authorization to release form
Research "subject to"(if time is available)
Read Contracts book
Call agent(If not able to line things up with Gogo's broker)

Friday
plan for D4D


Saturday/Sunday
D4D's
Blog about progress and next weeks plans

If I start getting leads in this schedule may be tough to maintain but I will find a way to make it work. What I have been thinking of doing is adding another blogging day to blog about something that doesn't necessarily have to do with my progress. We'll see how that goes.

later gator's!
HubCap

Things I need to do...

I wanted to list out the things I needed to do this week and what days I planned on doing them. That way I am on a tighter schedule.


Monday
Look up who owns the homes on my Driving for Dollars (D4D's) leads
Call lawyers on my list, ask lots of questions

Tuesday
Research Shortsales
Make copies of my seller questionnaire

Wednesday
Mail out letters for D4D leads
Read contracts book
Start drafting my contracts(I have a few on hand I just need to make sure I know what is contained in them and revise them if needed, thanks Gogo!)

Thursday
Plan for next weeks D4D campaign by printing maps
Read Contracts book

Friday
Blog about progress and next weeks plans
Read contracts book

Saturday/Sunday
Drive for dollars(D4D's)

This is it. This is my last week for BS! Next week is the start of hardcore marketing, working leads and making offers. I have to have as much in order as I possibly can. If I want to make this deadline in November I HAVE to get the ball rolling. I was actually talking to my wife today about how I wanted my structure in place. I told her that I hadn't sent out the letters from last weeks D4D leads that I got. ..she told me everything can't be perfect I just have to start doing it. So do I shall!

As a side note I just want to thank my wife. Even at times where I am not paying her much mind and I am over my head in study materials she still manages to encourage and support me.

Thank you sweetie, I love you!

Knowledge is nothing without implementation.

HubCap

15 DAYS UNTIL I START MARKETING!

I felt lazy all week..the wife was having those pregnancy cravings where all we were eating was fast food...Im sure that has something to do with it. THANK GOODNESS WE STARTED COOKING AGAIN!

Surprisingly, I still managed to make some phone calls(3 or 4) to attorney's that can hopefully perform these closings on REO's but none of them have called back. One did answer but he said I would have to have "disclosure". Im not sure what would need to be disclosed being that the buyer of the property(which would be an LLC) would not change, just the owner of the LLC.

I also went online and found a list of about five more attorney's just last night and I will be calling them next week or this weekend. I also found a couple on Craigslist. .. I got a couple of responses...we will see how that goes.

On the sweat equity side of things I found about ten leads. 4 pre list REO's, 2 potential rehabs and about 3 or 4 possible shortsale opportunities. My goal was to draft letters to send to the rehabs and the shortsales and to find contact information for the prelist REO's. ...well the good news is I drafted the shortsale letter..check it out...



Dear Homeowner,


I know the threat of foreclosure on a home can be very stressful and that not knowing what will happen next can keep a person awake at night. I know because I have been there.

Two years ago I found myself buried in late mortgage payments, HOA fee's, a negative account balance and fear. It was then that I found someone that could help me get out from under my house, someone who could work with the banks to help keep the words "forclosure" and "bankruptcy" off of my credit report. He wasn't a bankruptcy lawyer asking for thousands of dollars to get rid of my debt or a lender trying to take away what little equity I had in my home to barely lower my monthly payments. He was there to negotiate with the banks to find the best solution for me.

Now that someone is me. If you are facing foreclosure, please let me help.

Call now, every minute counts. It won't cost you anything but your time.




...Now if you happen to be looking for something to send a homeowner about a shortsale I don't recommend lying to them to get a lead..I really did go through foreclosure and I really did have an investor that was trying to help me. I may not leave that up for long so get it while you can. ..oh and btw I am finding out who owns the home by doing a property search for the county I am doing my hunting in that way I actually have the persons name on the letter rather than "Dear Homeowner".

Now all I need to do is draft a rehab letter and then send everything out. ..that should do it for the owner occupant leads..now for the bank leads I will have to jump through hoops to figure out who the listing agents are on these REO's that haven't been listed yet. The last thing I want to do is let any of these leads die..especailly that rehab..the owner bought the house back when it was built for 35k(property search). The ARV on thie property now is over 100k. That means this guy has nothing but equity in this house...WOW!

So for next week and this weekend I HAVE HAVE HAVE to finish drafting that letter for rehabs and I HAVE to find an attorney that can perform these transactions. ..oh and I would like to finish this contract book but that may not be done until the end of July.

until then remember

When you feel like quiting, its time to work harder.

HubCap

Every week is different

This week I didn't get as much done as I would like to but I did make a little progress.

I finished reading "The New Path to Real Estate Wealth: Earning Without Owning" and I started reading "Essential Guide to Real Estate Contracts, 2nd Addition". I am about 3 chapters in and it seems like it will be a good read which is far from what I was expecting since it is a book on contracts.

I have also been studying the market, I had my real estate agent send me comps of Cape Cods, Ramblers and Colonials that have sold in my target area in the last 6 months. I noticed that there are still a good be of retail sales happening in my area, thats a good sign BUT there are also a good bit of investors working their butts off. That means I am going to have to work extra hard. I am even going to find a way to get in touch with these investors so that we can build a partnership instead of a competition, we'll see how that goes. I also have my agent sending me REO listings once a week.

Other than that I have been reading over some contracts and other study materials that my mentor gave me back when I was being foreclosed on(You can read my first post for details) and getting together my ideas for my marketing campaigns. I am writing down as many marketing ideas as I can and I will start with the cheaper ones since I have more sweat equity than any other currency :( . I do have a $25/mo spending budget that I will use, it ain't much but its something.

I got my driving for dollars done last Saturday I didn't find any leads like I did the previous Saturday because I ended up on the high priced end of town, you know, the little neighborhood way in the back with houses so big it makes you want to vomit... . I decided I am going to focus my efforts on neighborhoods that I know are lower priced. CRAP! That reminds me I didn't get my maps printed so that I know where I am driving...grr! This time I am going to start leaving flyers on the doors, this is when a bit of fear is pulling on my shirt because I don't have the structure that I want in place but the only way to beat my fears is to face them. Im not here to play coward, I did that way too much in the past. Besides if getting leads forces me to get my structure in place faster then that is a win for me.

Wow ...it looks like I actually accomplished more this week than I thought I did. I am pleased to see that I made even the littlest bit of progress. One thing I have noticed is that once I started talking to people and telling them that I am going to be bringing in deals(my agent especially) and bringing in business once I started blogging on this site I am no longer playing games this is my reputation and I have to protect it. That is why I told my agent that I will be making offers starting the end of this month. Now my rep is on the line with her my rep is on the line with anyone who reads this blog, I have to do what I say I am going to do, no choice now.

so like Robert Kiyosaki said in Rich Dad Poor Dad:

"Keep minding my own business"

Now if you don't mind I got some contracts to read ;)

Anthony

Wow

I cannot believe how fun this stuff is becoming. I am actually working with an agent getting comps. I am actually surprised that the agent hasn't asked more about what I do.

My mentor seems to be gaining faith in my abilities and I am getting more buyers added to my list every day or couple of days. I spoke with another settlement company and they were another one of the "simul closings is illegal" type of settlements.
I got another lead on an investor friendly title company from a forum earlier this week. I will be sure to give them a call later on, maybe tomorrow.

There is still so much due diligence that needs to be done but I just feel like I have reached that point where I KNOW I am going to succeed there is not doubt about it in my mind. It is only a matter of time.

Anywho..I wanted to make this one quick since I posted earlier this week and I am on a long weekend starting tomorrow. Hopefully by the end of next week I have answered most of my remaining questions and I can start marketing and making offers way ahead of schedule. We will see how that goes.

Anthony