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.

Virginia Beach Keeps Rockin!

HOT AUCTION THIS WEEKEND!!
http://www.postlets.com/res/1207279

Click the link above to check out the the latest '11 Day Sale' open bid sale coming up this weekend. Unfortunately there's a tropical storm rolling over the top of VA Beach today and tomorrow. In fact, I watched the poor guy from weather channel take a beating from the wind & rain while broadcasting live from the pier in VB while I ate breakfast this morning.

At least visitors to the auction will get an idea of how the yard drains water and whether or not the roof leaks!

We've got some blurry photos of the property on www.11daysale.net as well.

Working the VA Pipeline
With my acquisitions manager following up on the leads generated earlier in the year, we are starting to stack up some purchases. Between the two of us we have been able to negotiate:

• one successful quick wholesale deal on a condo in Chesapeake,
  
• get a recently rehabbed property (no repairs necessary!) under contract
• Made a follow up call to one of our previous auction success stories in Portsmouth and got a commitment to hold an 11 Day Sale in October.

Filling the CA Pipeline

One of the challenges of starting from scratch here in CA is building a pipeline of sellers and a list of potential buyers. I am mailing about 2,000 postcards a month and am getting about a 3% response rate so far. I am filling the pipeline with people who are in various states of motivation as far as selling their homes. I have talked to 3 investors that own multiple properties in the area.

• One owns 30 propts and he wants to sell 6 of them in the next year.
  
• Another has 17 properties and is a lot more motivated to sell by the end of the year.
• The third owns two 4-plexes and a single family dwelling (currently in litigation) that I will continue following up with until he "buys or dies"

I also had a conversation with the owner of a free & clear property in Pismo Beach last night that I am going to make an offer on early next week. Funny thing about this guy is he is a Former Insurance Client of mine! Small world. Hopefully he likes me enough to go for my no interest, no payments offer on his place...

Thanks for stopping by!
-Taylor

Maybe it's not that bad after all...

I'm generally not a real political guy. I tend to vote with my wallet... ergo Republican.

I do enjoy it when candidates, pundits & talking heads get their facts wrong & get called on it.

Back to Real Estate this weekend. Lots happening.

Back on my feet & riding...

As you may or not know, I started this little real estate venture as a response to being laid off from my corporate job in the insurance business. I happened to be in Virginia Beach at the time, so as a result, my real estate business was in & around the VA Beach/Tidewater area.

As months went by with no steady source of income, my lovely bride & I decided to put our awesome home (see it at 2904wilcox.blogspot.com) up for sale and keep working the Glass Doctor by day and 11 Day Sale real estate in the afternoon & evenings.

Since our house sold so quickly, (we had an offer in 4 weeks...) we had to make the decision to either stay in VA & rent, or find a job/place to live back in CA where we were both originally from.

It was a tough decision, but we decided to go back to CA.

And now we're here. We are here on the Central Coast of CA in San Luis Obispo County. We happen to be living with family for the near term, but are excited about the next step for our growing business.

You are probably saying to yourself, Taylor, what about your VB operations? Why would you leave something that was just getting going? Why work so hard to just leave it all behind?

Good questions my young reader. Let me fill you in on our growth strategy...

11 Day Sale in VA will continue. I have hired an Acquisitions Manager to continue to buy/sell homes using my contacts in VA Beach. She is fantastic and we just wrapped up her first closing on an 11 Day auction she did while I was in Hawaii last month. A nice little bit of bling to fund our operations on both coasts...

We're also looking at picking up another researcher/11 Day Sale contract employee in Harrisonburg VA. We'll see how it comes along, but things are coming along well with her training and she should be ready to hold her first auction/bid sale by mid September.

11 Day Sale in CA is just picking up speed! I have been fortunate enough to pick up a few night shifts a week at Giuseppe's Restaurant in Pismo Beach, and also have a gig with Advanced Teeth Whitening Systems, selling teeth whitening systems (light machines & supplies) to local Day-spas & up-scale salons. It looks to be a good money maker and the income should take any hint of desperation out of my real estate discussions with sellers. (never be the motivated buyer... ever...)

I have sent out 67 probate mailers to SLO county and as of yesterday have 7 responses so far. I have another set to mail out this weekend for North Santa Barbara County and will keep tabs on responses here in the blog.

Thanks for keeping up with us! Check 11daysale.net to see some of the hot investment properties my manager has stirred up in VA!

Cheers!
Taylor

I'm out there...

Beautiful sunrise today.

Gotta love this place.

Only problem is I'm on the North Shore in summer. Waves are hard to come by....


I just got a link to an interview that Dustin Matthews & I did about a week ago. I used his business credit infusion program and was able to get a solid amount of credit for my operations.

The interview is at http://businesscreditinfusion.com/blog/?p=25

I'm working on a referral link for the program, but if anyone viewing my blog buys the program, let them know I sent you & I'll get the credit.

-Taylor

ps. Geckos outside the house this morning.

Aloha

I am away from real estate for a week. I am in Leia on Oahu for a much needed trip away from it all.

I am a surfer so my first trip was to Sunset Beach yesterday. The waves were tiny, but it was great to be there and see the beach were the best in the world ride every year.

We visited Wiamea Beach today. I did one of the things I've always dreamed about doing when I swam with and got a quick tow from a seaturtle. It was truly an amazing (dare I say spiritual) experience for me.

I faced my fear of heights and I jumped off a 15ft rock into the ocean. Twice!

Surfed outer reef waves yesterday and actually caught a couple of shoulder high thumpers.

And still had time to talk a pending deal through some stumbling blocks and helped everyone get to the signing table (thanks to my acquisitions manager!)

Pearl Harbor tomorrow. It's pouring rain right now and I have nothing but time to relax with the family.

More real estate news next week...

-Taylor
(cliff jumping video of me & my brother in law. I'm the second jumper...)