This is going to be another busy week for sure. Even though the last letters I sent out where in the first week of August, my phone rang with a call from a lady who had been holding onto my letter since I mailed it back in January. Took me a bit to find her name because when she said it on the message it sounded like “Cook”, but in fact it was “Cope.” I managed to to do a …
Create Extra Marketing Money With Your Real Estate Blog
For those people who have been reading my blog for a while know that I’m pretty limited with my marketing budget of $200 per month. This gets eaten up quickly when half of that goes to my probate list provider. That leaves me with only $100 for Stamps, paper, ink and envelopes. Sending out 80 to 100 mailers each month is all i am about able to do. This causes a problem because I want to send out a multiple …
Probate Monday: Gearing Up for Another Mailing
With the end of August looming large, I’m going to be preparing my next batch of probate letters to be sent out. Unlike most prior months I’ve been waiting for the beginning of the month to put all the letters together, stuff and stamp them. This usually takes me a few nights and the letters don’t go out until the end of the first week. Not this time! They will be sent out on the 1st. I also have post …
Probate Monday: Mid Month Slow Down
Before I get started, I want to wish my beautiful bride a very happy 30th birthday today. She is the love of my life and with out a doubt my best friend as well. Can’t beat that combo! In our family we like to celebrate birthdays over a week period, not just on the date itself. We get together with family, have a party with friends and do things throughout the week to make it a really special time. With …
Renaming My Blog Contest Winner!
When I first switched my blog over to StrugglingInvestor.com from my old blog at sjcostello.blogspot.com it took me ages to come up with a domain name that represented my current struggles to break into real estate investing. What I liked about the name, StrugglingInvestor, was it also represented and large group of people who where just like me, people working a full time job and wishing they could break free and venture out on their own into Real Estate Investing. …
Free eBook: 7 Day Action Plan
I’m sure most of you who read my blog already have downloaded the 7 Day Action Plan e-book that Shae Bynes, over at GoodFaithInvesting.com has put together. If you have not, then head on over to her site and fill out the form. I just finished reading through all 17 pages. I must say, Shae really managed to break down the proper way to take action and succeed. I’ve done a lot of research, read many books and experimented with …
Last Chance to Win a $400 Prize!
Just wanted to remind everyone that Friday, August 14th is the day I’m going to be closing the doors on the contest to rename my blog. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment suggesting a great sounding domain name. If I go with your entry I will give you Steve Cook’s Flipping Homes Profit Machine Intensive DVD course. There are over 20 DVDs in this set of awesome content. Go to this post, Contest: Rename My …
Must See Posts: Women, 1000 Houses, Target Markets and More
Here are some of the great posts I’ve read over the past few weeks from around the blogosphere. Patrick Riddle over at MustKnowInvesting.com is running down the top 8 women in real estate investing and is currently featuring Steph Davis (no wonder why she just restyled her hair). Along with Steph, another P-Rid girl, Shae Bynes just posted up a killer book review that you can see down below. It may just be my first 400 page book I’ve ever …
Question: Using BiggerPockets.com
One of the best REI resources out there is BiggerPockets.com. Unfortunately I don’t really know this from experience . I’ve heard quiet a investors, that I respect, give high praise to the site. I have dabbled on the site over the last couple years, but have never really sunk my teeth into and really figured it all out. Well here is my question for experienced users of the site… Question: How do you use the site effectively and what …
Probate Monday: First on the List!
Hey everyone! This is another addition of probate Monday where I review the happenings that went on last week with my probate investing. I got 105 letters in the mail on Friday and wasn’t expecting any calls until at least today. To my amazement I got three calls the very next day, one at noon! The first call was the best one of the bunch. It was a very sweet older lady who asked me if I was only interested …
Book Review: Tribes by Seth Godin
I’m back on track with my 1 book a month goal. It helped that I read the book Tribes because it was a very quick read at only 150 pages. I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this book but I’ve heard people rave about most of Seth’s books like Purple Cow so I figured why not. Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin This book is all about leading groups of people that Seth refers …
Contest: Rename My Blog and Win a $400 Prize!
I think it’s time to change the mojo of my blog and come up with a more positive name. In the past I’ve been hesitant to change the name because I wanted it to become a brand in a way. A place for struggling investors to go and get support and see how I over came my struggles and made it to the promise land. My friends Shae, Jason and now Kelly have been on me for over a year …
Probate Monday: Sending Out Mailers Using SI Lead Manager
It’s the beginning of the month, so that means I’ve got some mail to send out. Not only that, but I’ve gotten SI Lead Manager to the point where I can use it pretty well with all my mailings. This being the case I thought it be a perfect chance to create a quick video on how I’d about mail merging my probate lead list with my probate letter of choice and then printing it out. http://www.viddler.com/explore/Scostell/videos/2/
MLS Offer Week: Contacted Agent
Sorry for the long delay in my MLS Offer Week series. I was all set to call up the agent last week and make my offer, but I wanted to go over my comps with my investor friend Bruce. Finding the right comps is key in coming up with your starting point in coming up with an offer. The comps will give you concrete evidence of what the property is potentially worth after being fixed up, also known as After …