Look Mom! I'm famous!

I'm not sure if I have posted my experiences/frustrations of trying to do my own mailings back in the beginning of my real estate investment venture.

Suffice it to say that I have learned from my mistakes and realized that I needed someone to handle the mail "in spite of me."

Since Feb of this year I have used Sales Team Live to do all my postcard mailing. They are great and I just love that they take care of all the stuff that I don't have time to do. I have become friends with some of the staff over there and my friend Ken asked to do an interview with me on the last deal I closed.

So here it is. This went out to all the sales team live members and their potential customers. I think it makes me sound bigger/better than I really am, but... I know I'll grow into my role as one of "their best clients."

http://www.salesteamlive.com/dealclub/

Nice to get noticed. Better to get paid.

Here's to getting more 5 figure paychecks in 2009!

Happy Holidays,
Taylor

My Latest Auction

As you may remember, I held an auction/open bid sale the weekend of Nov 8-9.
On one hand, the auction process was super successful.

• 2100 mailers to surrounding .5 mile radius generated a lot of calls to the toll-free 11 Day Sale Real Estate Hotline. Many visitors mentioned the cards.
• 90 Auction signs posted in 1mi radius. Amazing pull.
• Over 130 groups (most groups were 2 or more) attended on both days. Huge turnout.
• 9 bidders willing to put their info on a bid card & participate in the auction.

Like I said, the PROCESS worked like a charm to get people there. This is why I favor these type of sales to sell properties.

Unfortunately, I missed the market by about $100k! My best estimate (comps, sold's, property condition etc.) was that the property had a retail value of 460k+. I bought it at $387k on an option contract & moved forward with finding an end buyer.

Bids:

1. $225k
2. $250k
3. $275k
4. $300k
5. $300k
6. $325k (eventually moved up to $350k)
7. Skipped first round; Joined at $350k in round 2, but wouldn't budge upwards...
8. Backed out once he heard the $300k+ bids (but asked me to call him with a cherry deal next time...)
9. All cash buyer. Wanted $.50 on the dollar (150k?) Hot REO investor.
   

Highest bids were $350 & $350. bummer. Taylor makes $0.00. Referred the deal to my realtor and she might make something out of the short-sale as the property is leveraged at $380k.

AND, to add insult to injury, the dirt in Paso Robles is like CEMENT! Holy Crap! I had to use a piece of 3/8" rebar and a 3lb engineers' hammer to make holes for my signs. I think I pounded 140+ holes in the ground getting them all posted. (Having the holes already there made for easy replacement though...)

Education. Expensive, but priceless.





Lessons learned?:

1. Know thy market. It is lower than thou thinkest...
2. Buyeth Bettereth.
   
3. Auction process works exceptionally well in this market. (assuming 1 & 2 are met)
4. Ingenuity and persistance are key to success in real estate investing.
5. God bless the option contract. I am greatful that the seller had no way to force me to buy this house at $387k. Option to purchase for 30 days... $11 dollar consideration. What a great way to control property.
   

Hitler as McMansion Homeowner...

I love the use of creative subtitles...

Super Legit Advice

I LOVE Mr Mortgage. Check out his blog. http://mrmortgage.ml-implode.com/

Check out this youtube video. He talks fast, but has been 'on the money' for the last 10 months that I've been watching these video blogs.

Go, watch, Learn.

Photos from my day...

I took some time this afternoon to leave my luxurious office and take some pictures. Here's a house I went to see. The seller thinks it's worth $370k. The neighbor's place has recently been reduced to $249k. Time for a reality check.

One of the tools I use in my discussions with sellers is the # of foreclosures in the area. (55% of all sales in CA are FC/Bank Owned. At this point FC's are the market.)

Here is a jpg of the foreclosures around the house above.

Interesting note on how I use this info...

I have always checked www.Realquest.com to get an idea of the foreclosure activity around a property (Free!). In the past I had to just make a note in the file as to the number of Auctions, Bank Owned and PreForeclosure properties around the property and would mention the numbers when talking to sellers.

Useful, but not particularly Powerful. Realquest doesn't allow anyone to print this graphic from their site without paying for a full report (which contains public info anyway...)

I'm not a guy that likes to pay for info that is free. However, I did want to use the power of the graphic to impress the severity of the competition in the neighborhood from FC's. Step-by-step instructions below.

1. Step 1 Push the [print screen] or [Prt Sc] button on your keyboard to copy the current screenview.
   
2. Next, Open paint (Windows/All Programs/Accessories/Paint).
   
3. Right click/Paste or if you're a keyboard user like me, ctrl-V
4. Use the Select (outline/rectangle) tool to highlight the portion of the screen you want to use.
5. Right click/Cut or ctrl-X to cut the image.
   
6. Click File/new (don't save) to create a new paint project.
7. Paste the newly edited image onto the project. Right click/paste or ctrl-v.
8. Print/save the resulting image and use to your advantage.
   
9. Wasn't that easy? Use it to create .jpg images of any screen you want to. Excellent skill to know.
   

Here is a tricked out ride I saw around the corner. Seriously, a lifted, 4x4 Nova. Nice to see some redneck style 'hood life' here in sunny CA!

Keep your hook in the water...

They say that to catch a fish you've got to have your hook in the water. Well, my hook is out there, but at times I feel like this guy. (see photo @ left.)

Last week I got to the point where I just got fed up with trying to figure out this market and started meeting with sellers. I remember having the same turning point when I was in VA. Just woke up one day and said, "Self, enough analysis. Time to get out and see some people." And things just took off from there. In hopes of improving my closing ratio, I have put together a nice little flip chart presentation (MBA guy can't resist some good charts & graphs:) and wanted to try it out.

I scheduled myself for two appointments back to back. One at 9am, one at 11am. My presentation went great both times and I got an option contract at the first house (details below,) and a commitment from the seller at the next house (no contract though, the place is hammered and she won't be able to sell it until it is fixed up.) My appointments actually ran about 2-2 1/2 hrs each, but by the time I was done with them, the sellers had an education of the market and a gameplan for what they could do 'by selling to me, listing with an agent or selling on their own...' It went better than I had hoped.

Stoney Creek Rd, Paso Robles
This 2400 sq ft house was bought by a bay area (Palo Alto) couple as a second home/investment back in 2005. They watched the price go up, up, up... and now come back down. It has been on the market for the last 6 mo's at $489k. I picked it up at about 100k less than that and will be holding an 11 Day Sale the weekend of Nov 8 & 9th. I've got a partnership with a local mortgage broker who will be there at the open house on both days to get people pre-qualified.


I've got another appointment Saturday morning and should have more next week. We're moving forward now!
-Taylor

Sold, and sold.

Adobe Ct, VB
The auction in VB (see prior post,) for Adobe Ct. went well. We got a buyer under contract and made the margin that we needed to, so everyone is happy. We're waiting on the appraisal, but inspections have been done and the buyer is FHA approved so it looks like we'll be able to get funding and take it to closing in about 10 more days. Whew!

Jeanne St, VB
Jeanne St FINALLY closed as well. I originally got this property under contract back in MAY 2008! It was a probate property and I started working with the heirs back in Oct 07. It took them months to all decide on a.)Whether or not to sell the house at all, b.) Upon deciding to sell, they bickered about the price to sell, c.) One of the heirs got thrown in jail so they waited until he got out 2 months later to sign the contract.

Once under contract we had title issues, leins and judgments for each of the heirs. One of the heirs had just been released from bankruptcy so we had a couple issues to deal with there as well. As time wound along, another of the heirs STARTED bankruptcy, so her portion of the estate got wrapped up and we couldn't move forward with the closing until the judge had time to review the case. Aarrrgh! So, 6months after signing the contract with the heirs, I finally saw some $$ come my way. At least it's done.