Funny that in my last blog I was talking about my phone not ringing. I think I got 5 calls within the first hour of being awake this morning (actually the phone is what woke me up). None of the leads were any good, but it was still a great way to start the week off. Part of what keeps me going is knowing that the next call that comes in could be the next deal, and the more I market, the more chance there is of that happening. It's really hard to stay motivated sometimes, though, but what other choice is there? I'm certainly not ever going back to the bar business. Ever. I'd rather saw my arm off and eat it for dinner.
The first ad that I called in the paper also turned out to be promising. The seller was a landlord trying to get rid of his last property. He just reduced his price from $110k to $75k. I went and drove by the house and it turned out to be a total dump on one of the worst streets in Tampa. Still, though, I was getting comps at $120k, so I set an appointment to meet the guy tomorrow. I also called one of the wholesalers who has been helping me out to ask his opinion. He happened to be in the area and drove by the property. His advice was to pass on it unless I could get it for around 50k.
I mailed out some postcards this morning, and have 30 more to go out tomorrow morning. I also put out 32 signs tonight. I had 40 with me, but was cold, tired, and aggravated, so I stopped.
The realtor I met last week also called this morning and we set up an appointment to meet. We wrote up a contract with all my info. on it, so she can just fill in the property address and purchase price when I want to make an offer. We ended up talking for a long time in her office. I really am glad to have met her. Tomorrow she is putting in an offer on one of the properties we looked at last week, and I have 3 more I will be offering on as well. She has already spoken to the listing agents of each and asked if the sellers would entertain a low offer. I don't think any of them realize how low it will be, but oh well. I also was able to send a lead her way from one of the sellers I spoke with today who was interested in listing her property (there wasn't enough equity for me to do anything with). I think I will be able to send a lot of business her way, and am glad to do it.
I was reading a post on the newsgroup at Flippinghomes.com the other day where someone recommended the book "Make it Big" by Frank McKinney. I ordered it and just got it in the mail today. It couldn't have come at a better time, because I have been feeling really discouraged lately. I had to tear myself away from it today because I had work to do. If anyone is looking for an inspirational read, I would highly recommend this book (I have only just started it, but so far, it is great).
I know this is cheating, but to make myself feel better, I'm counting the two deals that closed this month (even though I got them under contract last year), as my two deals for the month (2 deals/month is the goal I set for myself). So, I'm not going to beat myself up over it anymore. I'm looking forward to the next month and going to work even harder to accomplish what I told myself I would.
