Marketing Monday: What rises at 4 am on Saturdays?

Scott Costello All, Blog 9 Comments

Marketing Monday is going to take over the Monday spot from Probate Monday until I start getting some probate deals and have more to write about on the subject.  Now my goals is to market as much and as best I can until I can come up with a deal.  This series will let you follow how i’m doing my marketing and hopefully it’ll help some of you out. Bandit Signs The answer to the question in my headline is, …

Do You Recognize Opportunity and Learn From “Bad Luck”?

Scott Costello All, Blog 10 Comments

This post doesn’t directly relate to Real Estate Investing, but you can definitely take the lesson and apply it to it for sure.  As most of you know my 2 year old Laptop got ruined by a leak in my office ceiling.  The damage was small and besides the fact that the computer wouldn’t turn on, you couldn’t see any damage what so ever. (I actually disassembled the parts yesterday and found where the water damage actually happened.  It was small …

2011 REI Goal Worksheet

Scott Costello All, Blog 3 Comments

As part of the coaching program I am in, we are setting our 2011 goals.   To set these goals we are filling out a worksheet  that will help us.  After which time we will have a scheduled phone call with Jon or Kasey to go over and discuss each goal.  Sounds like a great way to keep accountable! What are your marketing plans for 2011? (how will you find sellers?) Budget per month? $200 + Affiliate Marketing income # …

Is it a bad idea to put up Signs in the Snow?

Scott Costello All, Blog, Lead Tracker, Probate Investing 5 Comments

Snow Snow Snow Lance and I were planning on putting out some bandit signs tomorrow morning.   Well that is not going to happen now because we are getting a snow storm of about 3 to 6 inches.  On top of that my wife told me we are going to be getting a Nor-Easter on Tuesday that is going to dump some serious snow on us as well.  So we decided to postpone the early morning gangster action until next …

$1800 and some Books to Give Away

Scott Costello All, Blog, Probate Investing 12 Comments

How was everyone’s Christmas and New Years?  I’m coming to you live from my Dell Mini 9 with a screen so small I can’t really e everything I am typing so forgive me if I have more typos then usual.  I do bring some good news on my laptop front.  The home owners insurance agent came out to the house today and gave us a check for $3500.  That money covers the depreciated values of my laptop computer and the …

It’s Raining Where It’s Not Suppose To!

Scott Costello All, Blog 3 Comments

So we just got about 15 inches of snow spanning Sunday through mid day on Monday, and I will say it was fun to spend that time just hanging out with my wife indoors.  We own a condo and have lived in it for just over three years now.  We’ve never had any problems with heavy snow, rain or leaking for that matter.  Not surprising since the place is a new construction condo complex and only 3 years old itself. …

Probate Monday: Going Through The Motions Is A Good Thing

Scott Costello All, Blog, Lead Tracker, Probate Investing 5 Comments

With Christmas only a few days away and New Years right after that, I’ve halted my mailings until January 3rd.  However I’m still going through the motions of putting my mail pieces together so they can be ready to be mailed out when the time is right. Staying active is a benefit on two fronts.  First it keeps me active and thinking about real estate investing during this slow down period.  I’ve always found that once a break a routine, …

Tips for 9-to-5ers: TV, Learning, Organization and more

Scott Costello All, Blog 4 Comments

Over the next few months, I’m going to be asking some of my readers and other people in real estate to share some tips about working a 9-to-5 job while investing in real estate.  For those of us currently in this situation it can be extremely hard to manage time between work, life, health and investing.  Hopefully these great tips can help make life a little easier, or at least run more smoothly. Sharon Vornholt’s Tips for 9 to 5ers: …

Joint Venture Contract Between Friends

Scott Costello All, Blog Leave a Comment

Today my mastermind group had an impromptu meeting in order to get one in before Christmas and New Years hit.  It has been a while since the last meeting so I was looking forward to it despite being very tired from a long day at work.  I actually took a quick 30 minute power nap in my car cause I got to the meeting early.  It was freezing outside, but the heated seats in my car made for a comfy …

Program Update – 1.3.1.0

Scott Costello Blog

Updated Version – v 1.3.1.0 (12/18/2010) Download: version 1.3.1.0 Feature Updates Custom Fields (tutorial video) Filter Leads using ‘Not’ (!) syntax Import Leads into Existing List Calendar displays mailing information on tooltip Program update notification Other minor cosmetic updates Bug Fixes Calendar button now opens calender Other minor bug fixes

Probate Monday: What to do with all those business cards

Scott Costello All, Blog 2 Comments

Over the past week I’ve been trying to get out all the mailers I can before the holidays.  I’m pretty much going to stop mailing after tomorrow because I don’t want my probate letters getting received just in time for Christmas.   Outside of being a bit tacky, most people are going to ignore those kinds of mail pieces during this time of year anyway.  I’ll get the most bang for my buck after the new year I believe.  However …

Dave Alexander Shows up at our REI Meeting

Scott Costello All, Blog Leave a Comment

Jon Zorrer is a good person to know for many reason, but one of them is that he is friendly with a lot of very successful real estate investors.   Dave Alexander is a good friend of Jon’s and actual flew in from Texas to come to our small rei meetup group yesterday. Not shocking the group saw it’s largest turn out to date, about 50 people.  I’ve know of Dave for quite some years as he is a regular …

How Many Calls Do 14 Bandit Signs Bring?

Scott Costello All, Blog 8 Comments

As most of you know about two weeks ago I put some bandit signs, 14 to be exact.  I have heard over and over again that these signs bring in calls and I believed the hype but was always reluctant to let the gangster out.  Sometime this weekend I think I’m going to drive the route and see how many of my signs are left up.  I know there are some because I’m still getting calls! How many calls you …

Probate Monday: A Pre-Christmas Note

Scott Costello All, Blog Leave a Comment

Last week I spent a good bit of my free time putting together mailers to out of state owners, as well as my new probate list.  To do about two hundred mailers takes me a total of 3 hours or so.  About 2 evenings worth.  I probably could go quicker if I was able to put a stack of envelopes into the printer and leave it.  But I have to sit by and keep putting stacks of 10 into the …

SI Lead Manager – Beta 3 is ready!

Scott Costello All, Blog, Lead Tracker Leave a Comment

Just wanted to make a quick announcement.  I’ve finally released Beta 3 of my lead management software.  I’ve also been working on creating a landing page for it where you can get more information.  You can find that by clicking on the link at the top of my blog called Free Lead Software I have also been trying to put up tutorials about each section over on support forums as well.  You can find that over at SIForums. Last and …