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Thursday, February 12, 2009

Curses, and Lessons, and Stuff.

2/12/2009

Been a busy week so far.

The duplex deal with Murphy closed yesterday, so our curse has officially been lifted! It's about time.

I've been making a lot of offers lately, and have been getting counters back almost every day, which has been keeping me busy.

The deal that I'm losing money on is closing tomorrow. Watson Title has been a slow piece of inefficient garbage on every other deal that I have ever worked on with them, and of course, the one time when I could benefit from their suck-assery, they end up being Johnny on the Spot and have everything ready to go on time. Sons of bitches.. I'll be losing about $800 on this deal, and although it SUCKS to lose my hard earned money, I'm kind of glad this happened, because I learned a lesson.... my deals need to have way more wiggle room in them, and so , I have been making my offers a lot lower. I'm talking, ridiculously, embarrassingly, low. I don't expect many of them to get accepted, but all I need is one/month, (as opposed to 3 or 4 smaller deals), and with the amount of offers I'm making, this is a very attainable goal.

I've been kicking some serious ass in the gym lately. I can almost see a six pack again. Woohoo! Working out is kind of like real estate investing... It's hard as hell in the beginning, but once you get some momentum going, it's a great feeling. Very empowering.

That's about all I've got for now.

Roger Dodger, 10-4, Over and Out.

P.S.
Richard, here's a picture of the mason ladder I use to make stakes for my signs....



P.P.S.
Countdown to Costa Rica: 10 days!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Steph 4 days between posts is unacceptable! ;) But I guess since you had a busy week we will let it slide this time... I was going through withdraws, and I think a hint of depression was setting in... Just kidding, I'm glad all of your hard work keeps paying off.

Steph said...

Thanks Dustin.

I'll try to post more often. Don't want to see you end up in rehab... :)

ScottB said...

awesome idea with the mason ladder. I think we will be less likely to get fines and warnings about bandit signs if we stake them into the ground with these. how many offers would you say you make in a week? Do you look at every REO possible make a low offer and hope one gets accepted? Or is there more strategy to it?

Steph said...

Hi Scott,

My goal is 3 offers/day, which isn't too hard to do. I also try to look at 3 houses every day..

I make offers on almost everything I look at.

Steph

Kyle-OH said...

Steph,

Join the club of ridiculous low ball offers. I have been making a fair amount of offers and I barely ever here from my REO Agent. Its very frustrating. Specially with the lack of confidence due to the fact I have not done a deal yet. Although, Today I finally got a hold of an REO Agent that is willing to send the lock box codes to my email. This is huge because I am basically free to look at these houses on my own time. I think I will be alot more efficient this way...instead of have an agent on my side 24/7. This reo agent and said I could sign one contract and then she will submit all my offers via email.....

BTW keep up the hard work at the gym. I am not quite at six pack standards but getting there lol

Steph said...

Hi Kyle,

Glad to hear you found an agent that is willing to work with you.

Keep on truckin- you are doing really well.

Steph

Rick said...

If I'd known you were gonna use my name I'd of given you my full, real one! I'd be famous or almost or not.

Steph said...

Soooo... you're using an alias?

Sneaky, sneaky..

Rick said...

An alias, lol. My real name serves well as an alias ;)

2 questions if you don't mind?

1. How does a real estate investor/wholesaler survive without buying any of the latest,greatest multi thousand dollar offerings out there? How do you make offers without Geralds fancy software or the lead generators, etc, etc? (tongue in cheek)

Truthfully, I've learned plenty in the last 4 wks from the free stuff these guys give away and all the forums so I am somewhat thankful for the endless promotions.

2. A serious question now. Everybody talks about a buyers list so I was going to use the Lairds/Mason Ladder signs to "advertise" a fictional house to see what shakes out. I don't have a problem with this like some did on the flippinghomes forum, however what do I say about the phantom home when they call? What if they want specifics.

Thx for your time, I'll hang up and listen!

Rick

Steph said...

Hi Rick

(1) You probably already know this, but there is PLENTY enough free info available on the web to get started with your investing/wholesaling career. I did my first deal from reading posts and asking questions over at the FH forum. It's all there in the archives...

(2) Why not contact a wholesaler and ask if they have any properties that you can market? That way you actually have something to sell... also, it's always a bonus to network with other wholesalers in your area, and maybe you can get a few pointers from him/her..

If you decide to market the phantom house, though, I would just tell the person it is already under contract, and then try to get specific info about what they are looking for..

HTH

Steph

Anonymous said...

Steph,

I love your blog... Can you tell us what you say to someone who you just call off a sign? Like a rental sign. If you trying to add them as a buyer?

Thax. 2NEW

Steph said...

Thanks for stopping by Anon..

Usually goes something like this...

"Hi, I was calling about the property you have for rent on 18th St.. I'm a wholesaler, and have been doing quite a bit of business in that neighborhood, and was wondering if you were looking to pick up any more rentals in the area..."

Some people are responsive, and some people are rude and not interested. It's a numbers game, like everything else, and if you call enough people, you'll eventually find some good buyers.

I hate cold calling just as much as the next person, but it works, so I make myself do it. :)

Steph