Category Archive

Over at Flipping Homes they pretty much preach that if you want to get lending these days it’s best to go with a small local bank, those community banks that you’ve never heard of. Well now is the time to start learning where they are. The reason is that they…. Keep there loans in house, which means they don’t have to follow the big boys guide lines when it comes to lending. They are more flexible because of keeping the …

I contacted one of the Real Estate agents I met on my open house tour and asked him if he was interested in working with a beginner investor. He said he has worked with many investors before and would be happy to talk with me and share his experiences (not sure if this means good or bad). I’m going to try and setup an appointment to talk with him on sunday. I’m going to follow Steve Cook’s advice and go …

There are what I believe to be 2 vacant houses right next to each other in Whippany. I can’t be certain, but the places just don’t seem lived in. I looked up the owners on the tax records… County Tax Records I then used the names from the tax records and looked up the Mortgages, deeds, etc. on the Public Records site Public Records This is what I found House #1 The tax records showed that one of the properties …

New Goal: Make my first 10 offer by October 31st! Hold me to it guys!

I swear I posted this before, but when I came back to look at my blog it wasn’t here. So…. Here is the ad I posted on craigslist as I promised I would in my last entry… I know what it’s like looking for investment houses, it can be very frustrating to say the least. It takes a lot of effort and time to effectively locate properties that will meet our strict criteria over and over again. If you want …

Business Cards My business cards came yesterday and overall I’m fairly happy with them. Actually having them in my hand apparently turned on the “smart switch” in my head and I realized a few things I should have done differently. Instead of putting “Company Manager” I should have put “Wholesaler”. Also I should have been consistent with the word “Home” and “House”, use one or the other not both. The quality of the cards are ok, nothing spectacular but should …

The next question I’d like to answer is who should I market to? I’ve been getting some good advice from the forums, such as… Centers of Influence (lawyers, Real Estate Agents, Brokers, Bankers…) Landlords Expired Listings On my trip to virginia I started reading a pretty good book by Dan Kennedy called “Ultimate Marketing Plan.” It has already given me some ideas on how to market. It’s a really good book and I recommend it. You can get it from …

My wife’s sister had a baby girl this past wednesday, 6lbs 9ounces and a head full of hair! So my wife and I are going to drive down to Northern Virginia and meet Maggie for the first time. I’m excited to see her, but 5 hour car rides aren’t my idea of fun. It’s all about family though! It’s to bad my sister-in-law couldn’t wait a week to have her baby or it would have put me in a perfect …

I finally just sat down and put together a business card and ordered them from Vista Prints. They have good prices and are always running promotions. 500 cards for $8 isn’t bad at all! I then added a glossy finish and adjusted some of the template photos so my total came out to $38. My goal with these business cards was to hand them out to other investors, mortgage brokers, Realtors and other people in the industry. They have all …

My Sunday open house tour continued this week as I visited 6 more houses in my surrounding areas (Whippany, Cedar Knolls, Morristown, Morris Plains, Morris Township). I have actually started seeing the same Realtors/Agents which is a good thing as they begin to get to know me. If they know me, and what I’m looking for then they are more likely to start thinking about me when a listing that fits my criteria comes up. Sometimes I feel bad for …

Yesterday I got a chance to actually go to an REIA meeting. It was the first one I’ve been to all summer, and I’m not exactly sure why. It was good, but it reminded me that the reason why you should go is not for the pitch fests but to network with the other investors. From my experience there aren’t a lot of successful investors at these meetings, mostly people just starting out. The real investors usually show up at …

Sorry I didn’t get a chance to post my usual Monday entry. I was busy all day with work at my JOB and then doing more work for my brother when I got home. This past Sunday I was able to hit 7 open houses! I’m definitely getting more comfortable talking with realtors/agents. I can tell, because I’m spending more time in the houses. This is good because you get to talking about the market and can then get a …

I recently found out that my friend’s father is a Real Estate investor, I think I knew this growing up but forgot some where along the way. So Hank, my friend, sent me his father’s contact information. Now the ball is in my court. I’m gonna contact him and see if we can meet up, but what do I ask?? I posed this question on the flipping homes messages boards…. As a beginner, what should I ask a seasoned investor …

I added my first buyer to my list on sunday and he definitely is a serious buyer! I went to an open house that was new construction. As my wife and i were talking to the realtor we found out she was the wife of the builder who built the house. We started talking as we walked through the place and she was telling me all the houses her husband has built and is currently building. As we were talking …

I’ve mentioned in the past how I have been taking my dog, Jack, out for walks around the different neighborhoods in my area in an effort to learn the streets and get to know the area as best as possible. In some lower level neighborhoods it might be easier to spot vacant houses because the grass is not cut or there are news papers piling up in the driveway, basically you look for un kept houses. In the town I …