Joes TX Journal

Hey Joe

I dont know where you were putting those signs But I would check the city code and see if its alright if you get the owner of the property's permission when you put up a sign. I live on a corner of a major intersection and I let people place signs if they ask me

Hope this will help

Cheer up it has to just get easier from here

I lost my job too

Real estate will be the way to go for me from now on

Later Fred E

Thanks so much for your input Fred Although i am sorry you lost your job as well- it is encouraging to know I'm not the only one looking at Real Estate as a viable option for the future. You are right about city code-technically private property is ok-but technically public property is not. My Current Seasoned Investor who'm I'm looking to as a Mentor has always dropped her signs in a neighborhood on a Fri Nite and picks them up on a Sunday Nite. Realistically knocking on peoples doors at night(to a stranger) is probably a low percentage of "yes's"-however-but I suppose during dayliter hours in neighborhood close to mine(I live in an apt next to a nice housing neighborhood) may be worth trying. Best wishes to you Fred-holler back anytime.

What you could do is put the signs on vacant homes. I plan on doing this as well. If the owner of the home calls you, just explain to that person that you are excited that he called because you were looking for them and was interested in their house. That will be my strategy. You should do well and receive a lot of calls by putting them in vacant homes near a window or in the yard or even on a tree.

Thank you guys for the great tips-I wish you well in your Real Estate Investing. As part of my ongoing search to be surrounded with quality real estate people-I have emailed and started to discuss with my good friend who is a realtor/agent the possibilities of him sending me MLS listings with search criteria designed to try to find distressed properties/motivated sellers. I also talked to another seasoned Investor (i saw a "we buy houses" sign on a Mercedes Benz at a Strip Mall and called the #) who is scheduled to meet with me in Jan . He and his wife are discussing a Mentorship program. We also discussed pay for bird dog leads. They were talking $200 and I was talking $1000 so we are apart-but will have more discussion and this may adjust depending on the equity in a deal.

hello

about the birddog fee I am with you 1000 is closer to real than 200

I used to birddog a few years ago and if it was a good deal and the guy ended up with the property he would give me 500 and then 500 more when he sold it

unfornately this guy quit buying homes about 5 years ago

Take care

Fred E

thanks Fred. I agree - If there is decent equity in a deal=one should be paid well

I have heard $100 to $200 for Short Sale Leads in my area-but I know Rina on this site got $1500 for her first bird dog deal so I think i'm on the right spectrum

Of the 25 Bandit Signs I got from a Seasoned Investor-I only have 5 left after 4 different neighborhood "sweeps". I think the homeowners alliance may have people looking out for these things -I wish I knew where they "deposited" them. I dont think my Seasoned Investor is going to be happy-but then maybe shes experienced that as well. I'm probably going to print up some flyers next week/maybe get a cheap answering service after just reading the Notebook from Tony's Interviews with Previous Students. It was a fantastic read and I got good notes.

I don't expect your investor will be surprised, it goes with the territory. We lose signs every weekend. Most times it is about 4 out of 20-25 but a few times the majority of them have been taken down.

Thanks for sharing your journal and I wish you the very best in REI and all that you do.

Lea
SPR Property Solutions, LLC

Thanks for everyone sharing. I read in the Notebook that Deans assistant Tony had with several of his students that Flyers were used in a couple of occasions to get things rolling-so I pray I can break out of my "comfort zone" and take some action with this/check out a cheap answering service possibly like suggested in Deans Book.

Met with a local Real Estate Investor today. Showed him Deans Book "profit from real estate now" and gave him the rundown on this site. He was a member of a Robert Allen Group; and he told me his first 7 houses deals all went to the Group/His Mentor-and he got $250 for each house. He did not feel too good about it-but he wanted to learn the infor so he signed on with the mentor-and from what he told me-has had to pay an additional $17,000 in Fees and Dues. I told him about Deans Academy. Although I am not a member-I told him I was under the impression it costs around $5000 (is that accurate?)-but you get the $ back if you complete 5 deals in a year. I am unemployed so I dont have $ to join Academy-but if my infor was correct(or close)-he seemed impressed. What I ran into with him is something i've seen is that it can seem sometimes you have to have $ to make $ in Real Estate. Every level of information costs something it seems like-so the avg person goes broke before they make a dime. All things being equal-I think Deans books/websites give the best chance for someone to go from the bottom up. Any thoughts ? thanks for input.

Joe,
Yes, it takes money to make money, agreed. The thing about that statement is it doesn't say it takes YOUR money to make money. The Dean way show us how to make money without our own.
There is a fee for the success academy but you can get it all back. Think about why that is. You will get help, coached,etc from experienced REIs, experts. They want to make sure thier commitment to help is matched by the commitment of the helpee. It's a great way with a little extra motivation(getting your money back) to go the distance.
Last but not least the Dean way shows us how to succeed without doing more than buying a book or two and NOT spending a lot of money. There are also techniques shared to make money through biddogging etc so you can afford to get more training, knowledge, coaching.
Imagine this. Let's say Dean knew you were dedicated and would never quit or give up. So he says do this and this and you will get $10k. Once you do you can pay me $2k for teaching you how to do that. So you ask yourself "How much is a technique worth that literally pays for itself?" You then follow the instruction make the $10k and give Dean $2k. You would probably be pretty happy at that point. I know I would be tickled pink! Dean goes a step farther and gives you the $2k right back to you and says good job. How would you feel at this point? My question is how could you control yourself and not being jumping up and down celebrating? Dean takes it another step and conties sharing more techiques, ides, etc. So ask your self what would you sell all of that for? Think of a dollar amount. Now once you have a dollar amount thin of what the networking in this site, the DG family is worth all by itself. the motivation, inspiration, sharing of ideas, the contacts you can and will make through the DG family, etc etc etc......

So making us pay something up front, that we can get returned to us later, just to make sure we will commit makes a lot of sence to me.

Scott

Ps. Log into our SouthCentralTexas group, Joe, when you have time. We need your input on a couple of things. -Scott

Thanks for your input Scott-you make strong sense. An investment in one's self is hard to argue against. I was simply reviewing a "trend" i have seen at times that I;ve run into locally with various real estate seminars that more often than not-theres always a financial cost involved to get information; and then you find you need a little bit more; etc and sometimes it has a negative affect (i.e- I'm always gonna be poor because it takes riches to get riches). Anyway-what I got from reading rinas journals is that we all go thru periods of up and down mental moods/swings and its good to lay it out on the table and get real;and allow for others to kick in some perspective; encouragment and so on.

A friend of mine who is a local realtor sent me some MLS properties with some search criteria we had talked about. I was thankful he followed thru on this and gives me motivation to review these to look for some deals; especially being unemployed with lots of time on my hands.
Also went to a real estate seminar last night here in austin tx. It was really great. A local investor whose family has been investing here for 45 years is Really On Top of the LOCAL MARKET here(which I feel is very important since real estate strategies can be affected so much by what the LOCAL MARKET is doing(per Deans first book) apart from the natl scene. His seminar/website were a mirror image of deans website to a large degree/but his focus is Local Deal/how to prospect/the "Double Wrap"-apparently they have a sweet cookie-cutter system using WrapAround mortages via a Living Trust to take over properties for a time while looking for buyers. And if they cant find a buyer for some reason; the Trust "dissolves" and property goes back to owner. I hope to find out more about this/one of their "people" is supposedly going to call me I imagine this week".

Just ordered Deans new book-"your town your real estate profits"-looking forward to it. I think it will give me opportunity to allow a realtor or agent friend of mine to read "Profit from real estate now" and see if they would like to team up. I think I can weather ups and downs better with a partner having recently encountered serious naysayers who were really down on information from books; saying reality isnt like book stuff. Anyway-looking forward to the book; and would sure like the "make $ online" dvd-but i already have" Profit from real estate now" book-and it looked like that book + the dvd where a package..

hello Joe
hows things

I think its a great idea to partner with some one if its just to share ideas and then come up with several better ideas. sooner or later you will be able to venture out on your own and do some deals by your self with out the partner stay the course and always visit this site for help and reassurance

It will make a differece

Fred E

Using strategy of automated recorded message in Deans "Profit from Real Estate Now" Book-my first ad comes out tomorrow in a local thrift paper. I used Deans Stop Foreclosure Script almost to a tee to record approx a 10 minute message. It gives 7 free tips on how to stop/stall Foreclosure; followed by a call to action to leave name/contact information at the end to see if I can assist/do a deal. I also thru going to several investor-related meetings; may have found a partner who is also somewhat new to the Investing game-but has more financial wherewithal;and already established an LLC. We will see if we make a compatible team; and share some expenses. Also hope to go look at some properties my realtor friend sends me via automated MLS listings. I'm trying to get him to come on board to try the Matt Larsen 25:1 Agent/realtor submitted offers at 30-50%of asking price; with 1 on avg going thru. He is still on fence; so hopefully he (or another agent/realtor) will come on board and run that program this year. Either way-being unemployed now-am taking steps forward even it all feels "really weird"...

thank you for the advice. will continually have to come here for motivation and inspiration. thanks for your input; and good luck to you as well.

Joe,
Don't forget lease options, like Matt's no money down sandwich lease options.
When you show your fence sitting friend a completed deal I bet that will knock him off the fence. So my suggestion would be to use Greg's system(Your Town ch 4) of sandwich leases for a bit. Win-Win You can then show your agent/friend, put some money in your pocket(up front), gain some cash flow income, and add to your buyer's and seller's lists in the process. Once you have the ball roling you will have more options. That would set you up to use the Stacey/Joe system of hold/rent/cash flow.

Remember if you create a buyer's list the rest will start falling in place.

Scott

"Don't forget you owe me a cup of coffee and I am coming to Austin to get it in March."

Congrats on taking those first steps to make this happen. Please keep us informed as to how that ad performs for you.

Kristin

Thanks for the tip. Lease Options are actually illegal in Texas. I'll have to check Ch 4 of the book;and maybe ask a RE Attorney about whatevers in that chapter.

Rough day today--went to a property to check it out for possible rehab thing; and my car battery died on the "not so great part of town"-I was a little scared. Man-car batteries went and got expensive.;too...then i find i'm going over cell phone minutes--yeesh. Expenses -Up. Income-0; some days are like that-however-my ad did come out so will check that to see if anyone called-hope so.....

after almost 3 days of first ad which was "stop foreclosure helpine" automated message patterned after script in "
Profitfromrealestate right now "book; no calls on the line(one disconnected call). I am really surprised; and not sure what to make out of that.Maybe its too long.. Its the only automated message ad in the real estate listings-everybody else is "we buy houses for cash type ads"-so i thought this one being different would generate calls. not sure what to make of this right now....

I would give it a bit more time. Someone looking to call a number for help with a personal financial problem may need a little time to think about it before calling. How long did you set the ad up to run?

Still no calls on the Automated Foreclosure Helpline after almost 6 days-7 free tips on stopping foreclosure with an opportunity to put their contact # at end of recording. My current investor partner is going to fund the ad through the next week. Since funds are limited for me; I am doing this on a week-to-week basis. We suspect that so many people are doing investing that when a house starts going thru Foreclosure; I'm told Homeowners get inundated from every Investor/Investor-trying-to-be's like me that their mailbox is full of offers. Not trying to stay on the downside of this; it is simply a current disappointment as i thought at the least a Short Sale lead or two would have come thru by now--we'll see if any calls come thru on Week 2 of the ad.

I certainly understand having limited funds, so having your partner fund for another week is a help for you. Give it the additional week and then if nothing comes of it, then you may have to find another route for locating properties. At least you are trying and that is a good thing. Keep at it.

Thanks kmg We'll keep plugging away and seeking for ways to take action . I hope you have success as well; and thanks for posting on deans site.

I think I've got thru Ch 6 or so of this New book. Its a great book. I really like the practical style and real-life stories.It seems like hes taken the best of Be a Real Estate Millionaire and Profit from Real Estate Now and combined it into this book using real-life student stories; tested strategies and a wealth of resources. i hope this book takes me to my first deal this year; and more after that.

Followed up on properties today. Wanted to look at a Short Sale listing at 139k with comps around $190-200k only to find out that the listing was not updated; and an Agent had already purchased it around $139k; rehabbed it ; and now HE was wanting $191k to sell it after rehabbing. So-that was old infor. The second property has foundation repair issues believed to cost around $4000 but it was being offered around $20-30k below fmv-the agent was going to send me some comps. It also needs some minor rehab work I think-mostly cosmetic. We;ll see what kind of comps the agent sends me. I still want to go %20-30% below asking price. Ideally-I hope I get a simple assignment early this yr to break in with the first deal. would do a lot for my confidence; and get some experience.

Keep it up. You are getting there.
The info on the second prop sounds interesting keep us updated.

Have you scanned the southCentraltexas group discussions recently? Your input is needed.

I can't wait to get moved and start taking over the world one property ata time!!!

I am wasting my time while here in Az either. I am going to a REI meeting next Wed, and an investing seminar next Thurs. I will make sure I take good notes and share any gems with you.

When looking for REI clubs I, ofcourse, looked in Texas out of curiosity even though I am not there. There are a whole mess of them in Austin and also in SA. Have you been to any meetings yet? Find out the date of next months meeting and I'll see about joining you. I will be in Waco then.

I tried to call you today but you weren't "home"....lol

We need to chat my frined.

Scott

I am dissappointed about my ad-after two weeks of running an automated stop foreclosure hotline; we got no calls. Although foreclosures still happen around here to the tune of roughly 1000 a month-people must be getting so inundated with "buy your house" mailouts and what-not that my ad got lost in the shuffle of this particular newspaper. Sales guy says it takes 10-12weeks of exposure of an ad to really take; but budget doesnt allow for that-so co-investment partner and I are taking a step back to re-evaluate. I am thinking of printing out some flyers; and just taking them with me as I go about my business during the week; and see where I can leave them.
I am about halfway thru Deans new book; and i really am enjoying it. I like the emphasis on research; and I can see the importance of it. Thats all for now..