More Hood than Hood

I thought my last hood house in Richmond was the best. I've got it beat.

I got a call from one of my probate leads with a couple of properties in Norfolk. I went by to look at them and ... Woah! Surprise! City code department had the doors taped with huge neon notices taped on doors/windows that the premisis was unfit for living humans to occupy...

You could smell the cat urine from outside the house!

I'm going to talk to him this afternoon & talk about a potential offer or option and start wholesaling it over the weekend.

Lovely.

Fixer-Upper!

Handyman Special!

-Taylor

Lucky

I had to leave town Sunday to attend a Glass Doctor training seminar in Memphis, TN. Booking the flight was a bear and I had to look at 6 or 7 different combinations of flights, airlines & two different departing airports to finally get a combo that would work. Needless to say I didn't have a clear departure time in my head.

So as I left for the airport I glanced at my boarding pass that I had just printed & shoved into my pocket & realized that my flight departure was 2 hours earlier than I had thought! I had 45 minutes to get to an airport that was 50 minutes away in good traffic!

I frantically called the airline to check for later flights... none. I would have to pay extra to change to another airport and pay to upgrade to first class. No go. I decided to take my chances.

The traffic marquees along the route all warned of a 4 mile backup going into the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel but I kept on going... nothing to lose at this point.
Mile 4... no traffic slowdown.
Mile 3... none.
Mile 2, none...
Mile 1, slowdown to 35, but still moving.
Then I was out of the tunnel with 20 minutes to travel 30 miles to the airport...

Flight was supposed to leave the gate at 5:35 and I arrived at the airport at 5:45. Security checkpoint was a ghost-town. They were training new people and there were about 12 white uniformed security people watching me like cows behind a fence as I ripped out of my shoes, belt etc and popped open my laptop for the scanning. I got through quickly and sprinted to my gate just as the planed pushed away from the ramp. CRAP! Seriously, it was like the movies.

Salvation came in the form of a 5'2" ramp agent who, after scolding me for being late "Mr Taylor, we paged you for 15 minutes! Where were you?", proceeded to scan available flights. Nothing. She told me to "hold on for a minute," and ran over to another gate to chat with the ramp agent...

"Problem solved," she said, "You must be living right. Did you go to church today?" As it turns out, yes I did...

They had a plane that got grounded earlier in the day for maintenance and now that it was repaired, needed to fly it back to Atlanta for flights out in the morning. The pilots & crew needed to get back to Atlanta as well,
"Do you mind flying alone?"
I thought, are you serious? NO PROBLEM!!

So I had my own flight to Atlanta. (see proof @ left.) Me. 2 flight attendants. Nice ones. Lots of snacks. I sat in every seat I wanted to until I found the perfect one (exit row, #12B). I felt like Trump. "Mr Taylor would you like a blanket? Mr Taylor can I get you something else to drink? Mr Taylor, more cookies?" As we landed they both hugged me and thanked me for flying Delta. The pilot smiled and shook my hand, wishing me luck as I left the plane. Awesome.

Of course I missed my connection in Atlanta, but they did have an extra seat on a later connection. My luck held as I boarded the plane & realized that seat 4C was in the first class section. Wooo Hooo!!! Again, "Mr Taylor, can I get you anything to drink? Please select a snack from this huge basket of treats..."

On to the shuttle to the hotel. As I left the shuttle the guy behind me said, "Hey, you dropped $5." as he reached down to pick it up off the ground. I said that it wasn't mine and he said that it fell as I got out of the van & handed it to me.

Should have played the lottery.

My luck held as I came home yesterday as well. I got another bump up to Business Class for one leg of my flight, and although my car had a flat tire, I realized that I had just enough air in it to drive to the gas station & fill it. Perfect. And it started to rain just as I got in the car after filling the tire at the station. Lucky again.

So here's to lucky happenstances and fortunate random chances. Good things still happen out there when you least expect them.

I'm getting on the phone to call some of my real estate leads. Let's hope my luck holds...

-Taylor

Straight Up Hood.

I contacted my Real Estate mentor today to ask about a good mortgage broker for my potential buyers on this house I have on contract (he still hasn't told his sister he's selling... I agreed to keep my marketing on hold. what a push-over I am).

I called & then met with him and we got talking about some of the deals we've seen & missed out on during our time in the business. He mentioned a potential deal he had in Richmond that he wanted to wholesale, but didn't have time to market it. I told him I'd give it a shot for a $5k fee. He said yes & we were off & running.

I made a quick call to my sister-in-law who happened to live about a mile from the house & got her to snap a couple of fresh photos for me. I reviewed the appraisal for info, drafted a quick craigslist post with photos attached and posted the listing right at mid-night so that i would be the first listing of the day. I ended up being the 3rd listing for the day. I could have probably drafted a better marketing message, but it's not an MBA project so I'm ok learning as I go.

Here's a link to the craigslist ad. Let me know if I missed anything obvious.

Here's the photos & stats...
Blt 1910, appraised at 192k as is, asking 118k (yes, that includes my fee). 3br, 2bth 1500 sq ft.

It's in the hood, but it is one of the nicer houses on the street and with the spread for the investor buying it I'm hoping we can get it sold quickly to a cash buyer & I can put some dough in the bank for next month's mortgage pmt.

I also need to wait a day for my Richmond Real Estate Investor's Club membership to process so I can post a listing to the membership list there too.

The broker has a hook-up for foreclosure properties due to his connections in the mortgage business and we're both thinking that if this deal goes well we could have a little money making venture started here...

Ever forward.



ps. I had another probate call today where the lady held onto my letter for 3 months! Gramma had leveraged the property up to 70% with a reverse mortgage before she passed so there was nothing I could do, but it was great to hear that my letters are getting read/saved!

An Option Makes The First Deal Come Together

I got a call last week from one of my probate mailers where the caller asked about my "program".

I went through my phone questions and once I determined that he had equity (ARV 260, loan for 180) and a current renter not paying the rent... (His Sister!) I set an appointment for the soonest day we could get together. In the past I would have done more pre-screening over the phone, but after my phone conversation with Dan Doran I adopted his mantra of,

if there is equity, GO!

Because, as he says, you can't do this business in slow motion & the first good salesperson that gets in front of the prospect WINS!

The meeting/walk through went well & I met with the seller and his wife at the Subway around the corner from the property. The seller hadn't told his sister that he was going to sell the property yet so we needed to meet away from the property.

I went through my presentation and went over my all cash offer of 181k (taking over the existing financing subject to & $1000 to the seller,) and they weren't that motivated/desperate yet. We had good rapport at this point & didn't want to let it get away from me so I went over another option. We discussed what their lowest, bottom dollar price that they would want to get for the house in 'as-is' condition and we came to $210. My guess is that it needs about 10k of work, but is totally livable as-is right now. I thought I could sell the place to a home-handyman type for more than that, but it was too high to sell the contract to another investor.

I signed him up on an option contract which gives me a 45 day period to market the property and find a buyer for more than the option price at $210k and I get the difference at closing. If the property doesn't sell during the time period, I am only out my option fee which is $10 in this case. I think I can sell the place to said home handyman for $218-ish so I'm pretty excited about it. The seller is sending me a key & I need to get his sister's # so I can get into the place and take pictures. I'll post a few pic's once I get in there.

So, I got my first commitment/contract, but no money yet. I need to get those pictures & get my craigslist and backpage.com ads put together and get that thing SOLD!

Pray for a quick buyer, with money and a quick closing.

Progress!

Taylor

Thank You for Calling Glass Dr, We Fix Your Panes...

I landed on my feet.
Sort of.
Well, more like landing on one foot than solidly on both feet.
I just finished my first week of my new job as account manager with the Glass Dr and honestly, it was pretty enjoyable. I was able to be outside, out & about meeting with clients and not stuck in an office on the phone all day. The owner is very pleasant and understands (in fact encourages) my real estate side-venture.

Downside is the pay. With flexibility comes little cash up front. So... the owner & I are talking next week about him bumping up my base so that I don't have to wait tables, but what I really need to get my RE leads turned into a deal.

I am still on the lookout for a 'good' job, but the market is really soft right now and companies are not coughing up the dough for relocations like they were a few years ago. Searching for a job in CA from across the country is proving to be harder than it was to find a job here while living in CA. Seems like things have changed in the job market & economy since then as well.

So my hope/plan is to work the Glass Dr thing along with real estate while I keep looking for a job both here & in CA. With all the recruiters looking for positions for me, my hope is that it is just a matter of time until one comes together.

As far as real estate goes, my probate researcher has promised that she'll get back in there this week. I am going to be working the Chesapeake area for the Glass Dr next week and plan to swing by their probate office & get the lowdown on the process over there. I need to get a researcher working that office for me just like I have going in Virginia Beach.


On the Foreclosure front, I need to put my foreclosure researcher packets put together & put an ad on Craigslist for foreclosure researchers in Norfolk, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach. I have the training CD's burned and the training paperwork printed & bound, I just need to organize it. I haven't heard word 1 from my foreclosure researcher in weeks. In fact, he hasn't done much since the Door Hanger Cop episode a few weeks ago. Maybe he got spooked...

All the probate leads I processed in Jan stirred up what looks to be 3 potential deals. I follow up with the sellers once a week now and I plan on just doing follow up with any lead until they buy or die.

I'm also mid way through my 2007 executor master list. I plan on drip mailing all the executors from 2007 since they have the final say on what happens with these properties.

I am also working on a name for my company... Real Deal Real Estate. I have a domain reserved at www.realdealestate.net and am working on a logo with my designer friend. I am looking at setting up an 800 # to add to my vonage account for $5/month to give me a higher likelihood of getting calls from the out of town probate beneficiaries.

LOTS going on, just little of it generating income right now. I'll keep you posted when my website goes live & give you the 800# so you can call and hear my 'free recorded message' once I'm done with it.

Keep moving forward...

I Suppose It's Better to Know Than Not Know...

My Lovely Bride is constantly posting her favorite recipes on her blog. I came across this and thought it might be a good inspiration for the upcoming Superbowl parties this weekend. Mmmmm... cholesterol. Yum.


Monday came and went and still not word on the job in CA. I called my recruiter twice. Going Nuts!

Tuesday I called my recruiter 3 times and he finally heard back from the company. They had filled the position. I think his precise words were:

"I got an email reply from the hiring manager. Looked like it was typed on a Blackberry. They said that they really enjoyed meeting you and that you were a great candidate, but the position was filled."

CRAP.

So I'm back to square ___ (I forget what square I left off on.)

I have interviewed and will be signing the paperwork Friday for a job as a marketing rep for the local Glass Doctor franchisee. We met at a networking event and our initial conversation centered around how challenging it is to try to start a business without the support of your current employer. So he's good with me trying to make a go of this real estate thing of mine. He has always left the door open for me to join him, so I'm going to take him up on the offer and hit the streets calling on insurance agencies and auto dealerships. It's not nearly enough to get me back to what I was making, but it's nearly double unemployment. Plus, I dispise the thought of being healthy and able-bodied and using a social program like unemployment. Goes against everything I'm about. Anyway, I'm going to have to do something else to fill in the $$ gap in addition to Windows & Windshields.

I'm on the fence about how hard to hit up local restaurants for night shifts. It's a tough one because I feel like I'm on the brink with my real estate thing, but since nothing has popped yet I can't say for sure. I'll probably go out & grab applications next week. Funny thing is I'll have to dumb-down my resume to get a waiter job!

"Hi, My name is Taylor and I"ll be your server tonight. I've got a BS in Finance, an MBA in Management and we've got some lovely new appetizers in the upper left hand corner of your menu.
Can I interest anyone in a beverage to start off with?"

Ahh, Crap.

On the Real Estate Front: I sent another batch of probates on the 29th of Jan. 111 Heirs from 56 files. They mailed on Wed and like clockwork, the phone started ringing as the mail hit the boxes on Thursday. The calls were not as promising as some of my more recent responses , but these were older probate files.
I got 4 calls total on Thursday afternoon with:

• one already sold,
  
• one already fixed up and on the market, listed with an agent on Monday this week,
  
• one not planning on selling for 3-5 years (!) but she really liked me & will call me when they're ready to sell,
  
• and one heir in Tennessee who was sure she was getting ripped off by the other heirs here in Virginia Beach and asked me to go look at the file and see if she was in the will.
  

I am still following up every couple of days on the Cunningham St house, the used car lot house and a couple of other interesting sellers. I have another batch of files to process, label and mail over the weekend so next week will have some more calls at least.

I have finished the 2007 probate files for Virginia Beach and my researcher should be able to keep me caught up on the new '08 files with her 2hrs a week. I'm going to hit Chesapeake as soon as my new job schedule shuffles out. I really need to get a researcher working over there as well. I may advertise on the REIA website to see if a young Realtor wants to learn the probate process...

I am still applying for all kinds of jobs here and back in CA and expect to see something in the coming months, but until then it's going to be cracked windshields, broken windows

and if Outback is hiring I'll be flinging some 'bloomin Onion' around too!

Keep praying for us.

Pray for a deal.