$100K in a 100 Days Real Estate Challenge

Here I'm sitting at home on a Sunday morning, trying to come up with a topic to send out on our weekly coaching call with our 1:1 students. I wanted to come up with an idea that would not only motivate our students, but also drive our successful students and help educate others who are interested in getting involved in our coaching program. I wanted to create something that I could also compete in with my other coaches as a way to kill two proverbial birds with one stone: make money closing deals and expand our coaching program.

One of the best ways that I've always gotten my business up and running during down times is to have a dramatic amount of activity over a short period of time. With it being near the end of July, now marked the best time for investors to get involved before the holidays start to hit in November. I decided that a 100 day sprint would have us wrapping around the 4th of November. So why not match that with a six figure goal of $100,000 which would average out to an average of $1k per day profit.

I decided that I would focus the contest on three subjects: Deals closed, money made, and private money raised. This tripod approach would give our students and us as students an even based approach that would not only allow for them to grow their business, but grow it in an effective and strong way to ensure future success.

So here we go!

Day 1, Sunday, July 26, 2009

As promised, I chose to work six and a half days a week on the $100K in 100 Day challenge. I want to utilize my Social Networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn to help me with finding, funding, and selling deals. That's not the first thing that I chose to do though! I posted several Craigslist ads in the Austin Craigslist posting. I posted a "I Need To Buy a House This week" in the real estate wanted section along with a Joint Venture/Private Investors wanted ad in the Real Estate Services section.

After posting these two ads, I went on Facebook and updated my profile to request any wholesale or real esate deals from wholesalers across the country. I am fortunate that I've worked to grow my Facebook friend list to over 700 by becoming fiends with investors all across the country by joining several investment clubs on Facebook.

After posting my Facebook request, I sent an email to my realtor, Amber Gunn and her assistant, Allison Lopez, to pull a list of the most recent short sales on the Austin MLS. I then updated my LinkedIn profile to request the same items that I stated on my Facebook profile. Boy, was I surprised at the response that I received!

Allison quickly responded with a list of over 150 short sales. I narrowed that list down to 88 short sales which I will be calling throughout the week to identify motivated sellers for short sales, sub to's, rentals, and wraps. I narrowed the list down to my desirable areas and homes below $300K.

After narrowing the list down, I received an email from a Phoenix area wholesaler, Ken Spohn. Ken gave me a call and we discussed what I was looking. He had a list of seven single family homes that he was looking to wholesale out. I've got several investors in the Phoenix area that I can contact for quick wholesale fees.

After Ken contacted me, another Facebook friend, Anthony Epps, emailed me two Atlanta deals for me to buy or wholesale. If you ad these to the potential sub to/wrap deal that my friend Jamie Harrington sent me on Friday, that gives me three potential deals for me to market to (along with any deals that I might find in Atlanta when I'm there in three plus weeks. Things were starting to come together.

I got an email from one of my LinkedIn contacts, Howie Mann, who had a REO pool of 22 properties that I could cherry pick. There were two properties in Texas (one just north of where i live in Georgetown, and one in Dallas). I pulled up the tax value of the property in Georgetown shows it being taxed at $75K (Zillow showed a value of $110k), and I could pick it up at $29,900. It might be a good deal, it might not, but it will be good bait to help me raise private money over the next couple weeks!

I also got a phone call from a local investor who saw my Craigslist ad who had a pretty decent subject to deal in North San Antonio where it was worth around $75K with a remaining balance of $54K. The property would need around $10k in back payments and light repairs, but this could be a quick flip or wholesale as well. I scheduled a follow up call to talk with Scott McManus (the investor) to schedule a property visit. He could either be a JV partner or another wholesaler to get deals from. Sounds like a win to me!

After four hours of work, I decided it was time to take off. Time to fire up the grill and throw on a couple ribeye's for my brother, Tim, and his future wife, Lindsay. Is it me, or do steaks just taste better after a great day.

Day one's totals

88 potential Short Sales, 22 REO's, 7 wholesales in Phoenix, 3 deals in Atlanta, and a potential sub to in San Antonio. That's a pretty good day! Thank you Facebook, Craigslist, and LinkedIn.

Day Two, Monday, July 27, 2009

If having challenged yourself to make $100,000 in 100 days doesn't get you out of bed in the morning, maybe a phone call from a potential private investor will.  To protect my investors, I'll just use their first name here.  Tom saw my Craigslist ad and decided to give me a call.  He had dropped me an email the night before, but I had already shut my computer off.  Tom was interested in working as an equity partner, private lender, or a credit partner as his credit score was over 800.  His full-time job was as a realtor (I wouldn't hold that against him!) but he wanted to be an investor first.  He stated that he could comfortably fund $50K for a quick rehab and flip which is what he was most interested in.  We agreed to meet later on to discuss the Georgetown REO that I told him about and to explore other deals as they popped up.  Day two was off to a great start.

I did some research on some of the deals that were sent my way by contacting a few investors that are in our inner circle on deals that were in their area that I could wholesale to.  I took some time to post a few ads in the local Craigslist postings in those areas (Atlanta, Phoenix, San Antonio, California, and Tennessee in preparation for our upcoming Path to Profit's workshop.

After knocking out my "big rocks" list for the day, I worked on updating my local investors list by reviewing the emails from my local investment club. Luckily enough, I could identify each investor from the Yahoo.com group so I was able to add another 50 investors to my local wholesaler, buyers, and flippers list.  I planned on using this list in the next couple of days to help me flip a few properties and make some cash along with raising some private funds.

After building my local list, I downloaded my LinkedIn contact list of 200 contacts from across the country. I did a mail merge and sent out an email blast to hopefully help me raise private money.  This worked perfectly!  I got an immediate response from an investor/wholesaler in Atlanta who would be glad to look at my deals and potentially partner on my rehab flips.  I got another hit from an investor with $25K in a self directed IRA that they would be glad to invest with me.  I recieved two other responsed from investors to give me a total of $110K in private money for deals.  

I also received an email request to consider appearing as a guest panelist for a public access real estate show in Dallas.  I'm to be one of four speakers to discuss the current market, social networking, and other topics dealing with today's market.  Talk about capturing a little magic!

My LinkedIn email also resulted in two investors from San Antonio contacting me.  One had a burnout deal that wasn't to bad of a rehab that they were looking to dump.  The other investor was interested in my sub to deal in San Antonio in case it turned out to be something that I wouldn't want.  I was getting buyers for my deals before I even had them under contract!  That's the power with social networking sites!  Not only can they help you find deals and private money, but they can help you get rid of your deals as well!  

I didn't get around to eating breakfast or lunch while I worked at home, so my stomach is growling pretty loud now as you can imagine.  Time to grill up a few braughts and have a cold beer on a Monday!  I finished up my day by scheduling to view both San Antonio properties on Day Three.  Let's see what suprises it holds for me!

Day Two results:  $110,000 in private money raised, one credit buyer, three buyers for my deals!

Day 3, Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Tuesday started off with me waking up and preparing to meet my brother so that we could go look at two potential deals: a subject to deal in San Antonio and a REO in Georgetown.

While I was waiting for Tim to roll by and pick me up, I sent out a email blast and merge to the 88 short sale listings that my realtor, Allison Lopez, had sent me the prior day. Tim arrived just after 9 am and we headed out to San Antonio to take a look at the subject to that was headed to foreclosure the next week. We met with the investor, Scott McManus, who was pitching the deal. The property was going to need some work (new paint throughout, new carpet, new applicances, some external paint, and a new shower liner), but could be a nice cash flowing rental for around $10K in backpayments and repair. We spent some time discussing investing with Scott and then we headed back to Austin.

We stopped for a quick lunch at the Gristmill and discussed strategy. It's often difficult finding a good business partner to work with on deals. My younger brother Tim and I often work together on deals as we both have different strengths. Tim is great with his hands and does a phenomenal job with his rehabs along with finding deals and so he is a great help to me with me being on the road so much. We've done several deals together and it's awesome to see him learn the business and apply it in his own life as well as he purchased his first subject to deal(with over $40k in equity and for the same monthly payment as to what his rent was) just two weeks after attending his first Path 2 Profits workshop. It's those kind of success stories that I love to share in with my students.

After lunch, we drove up to Georgetown to view the REO that I had received from my Linked In contact. Allison had provided me with some information stating that there was a home listed for $68k that was handyman special along with sold comps in the mid $90s. I was pretty excited to hear that which meant that I would be picking this property up for around 33 cents on the dollar.

It was obvious that someone was still living in the property, so we didn't knock on the door. I was taking some photos and video of the place when two ladies walked out from behind the property. Turned out that they were renting the property for $850 a month! They knew the property had gone to foreclosure and they were concerned that they would be thrown out. I promised them that this wouldn't be the case. Doing some rough numbers, I figured that if an investor borrowed money at 12%, that the rent and cash flow would yield around a 25% return after taxes and insurance was paid. That's not a bad return!

After visiting with the tenants, we headed back to my home. On the way, I received two phone calls from investors. One caller was a new investor named Kimberly Albert. I spent some time working with her on how to raise private money. She had been referred to me from a San Diego contact and friend, Jason Smith. I gave her some ideas to help her find deals and promised to email her my email that I sent out to attract funding. I was extremely excited about the second phone call which came from a private equity fund manager out in San Francisco who had come across my Craigslist ad and was looking to fund some residential and commercial projects with his high tech equity fund! We had a great conversation and agreed to have a conference call with Jayme Kahla, our commercial expert, the following day.

Upon arriving back home, I made a couple calls to two of the private investors who were interested in doing some deals and outlayed what I had come across. They were both excited and I scheduled with one of them an appointment at 2pm on Wednesday to look at the REO again. I also talked with one of my students in San Antonio who was interested in the sub to and promised to go by and review the property with in the next day or so.

I wrapped up my day by reading my emails and identifying three responses from realtors regarding my mail merge to start the day off that were looking for offers. I forwarded the emails to Allison to pull comps and CMA's for so that I could get contracts in on them. I also submitted a contract in on the REO to get it under contract along with contacting my other coach, Lorena Gerlach, with a Dallas REO to have her do some due diligence on.

I also emailed my Facebook friend, Rich Fitzgerald, with a couple Phoenix REO's to see if he would be willing to do some due diligence and then split the wholesale fee 50/50. I spent the last part of my night doing the same with the remaining REO's on the list where I had students, friends, or contacts that could help me flip them. I recommend using Facebook, Craigslist, or ActiveRain to find realtors and real estate professionals to help you with your due diligence. Don't be afraid to split your commissions with them. 50% of something is a whole lot better than 100% of nothing. After doing this, I jumped on a conference call with my friend, Jamie Harrington, who was having Bob and Jayme speak to her group about our next Path 2 Profits workshop in Nashville, August 12-17th. Tickets are still available if anyone is interested.  You can contact me directly at 512-585-3810 to get registered for our 4 day event.

So to wrap up day 3: 3 contracts being written up on short sales, one REO offer submitted, 10 other REO's sent out for due diligence, and two appointments set with private investors. Not a bad day.

Day Four, July 29, 2009

Wednesday started off on a good note. I woke up to find that one of my Facebook contacts, Jason Smith, had sent me a list of some Las Vegas REO's that were going for 57% of current market value or less. You would be surprised how open investors on Facebook are to networking and there are plenty of investment groups online that you can network togetherwith. I requested more information from Jason as far as a list of proeperty addresses so that I could effectively evaluate the deals.

After visiting with him, I started posting Craigslist ads to attract other buyers for the REO pool that I was given to cherry pick. I love using Craigslist to find buyers and sellers all across the country. Its an easy way to find quick sale and rental comps by just checking a few items.

At noon, I got and the conference call with Jayme Kahla and the hedge fund manager out of San Francisco. He was interested in buying and funding apartment deals, along with large amounts or pools of REO's all across the country. Jayme had a deal already to send to him and would include some points or fees in her bid to help compensate me for putting them together. It's important to constantly be networking together as an investor because you can often benefit from simply referring buyers to sellers or funding to buyers.

After getting off of the call, I headed up to meet my private investor, Tom, who was interested in buying my Georgetown REO. I met Tom and his business partner, Mo, at the house. They both liked the deal and I found out Tom was going to assign the contract from me to Mo and they were going to make money on the middle. This is another way for investors to make money, put a property under contract and assign the contract for quick cash. We agreed that I would get them a copy of title along with the assignment contracts and that we would look to close in 2 weeks. I then headed home to work on some other items.

On the way home, I drove past a 43 unit condo development that was for sale that I chose to have my realtor, Amber Gunn (www.myopentoclose.com), take a look at for me, along with locating what I thought was another handyman special. Potentially two other deals that needed some work. I also came across a bandit sign from another investo and so I made a phonecall into him to see what he was looking for. You never know when you will find a deal or find another buyer from just making a phone call.

After arriving home, I made a few phone calls to some of my 1:1 students across the country to see if they wanted any of the REO's. After doing that, I spent some time on Craigslist looking to see what other deals that I might be able to find. I received two phone calls from two potential renters for my house that I put on the market on Sunday. Since I'm single and don't have kids, I'm always looking to squeeze extra cash flow out of my properties. Since my brother Tim is looking to take a travel job in San Antonio or Lousianna, we agreed that if I rented my house, I would move into his place until the first of the year or until his job was over or he was married in late January. That's another potential $4200 in cash flow that I could squeeze out of my properties. Sounds like cash flow to me! Along with that, one of them was going throug a divorce and had a property that could be a short sale!  Bingo baby!  Another deal for me!

I have a 5;30 dinner meeting with one of my private investors tonight followed up by a networking event at 8:00, so its time to wrap day 4 up.

Day 4 Wrap Up

2 private investors, 2 potential deals found, 3 investors found, 1 short sale, and an agreement to wholesale my REO in Georgetown for $9k in profit. Not a bad day.

Day 5, Thursday, July 30, 2009

You know it's gonna be a great day when you wake up in the morning with an email from investors offering you private money! I had one investor email me stating that she had $15K in a Roth IRA that she wanted to partner with me on deals. It's amazing how fast word can spread!

I spent a lot of time last night surfing Craigslist. I LOVE Craigslist because I often find deals, private money, buyers, and sellers on it. As I was watching Entourage on HBO, I found four hard money lenders, two private lenders and two other local wholesalers in the Austin market that I planned on calling today, but will have to wait until Friday. I was more excited about the Investor's Wholesalers website that I was directed to from one of my Facebook friends, Ken Spohn, who had wholesale deals listed all over the country. While there were a ton in Arizona (where Ken is located), there were some in Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee, Austin, and Atlanta.

With me being on the road a lot with me being the senior coach for WeCloseNotes.com, I love finding deals for my students or deals that I can flip while I'm in the market. We three coaches (Lorena Gerlach, Jason Schubert, and myself) have tackled properties in Las Vegas, San Diego, Orlando, Austin, and Dallas with success in either closing deals, raising private funds, or networking ourselves into the communities for deals after we leave. Anyway, I found nine such properties in the Memphis and Nashville markets that I requested more information that were all at 70% of current market values or less. While it's not always accurate, I use Zillow and PropStream to determine if the values are accurate or in the ballpark. I was also excited to find several deals in Atlanta including a nice duplex that I could either wholesale or hold onto for cashflow. We'll see when I get some more info!

I made a preliminary list of hard money lenders that I found online and Craigslist that I could call on Friday to track down financing, REO's and defaulted notes. Hey, I'm a deal junkie! I keep my mind open for anyway that I can structure a deal to make it fit. Sometimes square pegs do fit into round holes.

Anyway, after reading my email this morning I headed out to meet an investor by the name of Donald who I had met from one of my Joint Venture Partners Wanted Craigslist posting. Donald was a nice guy who I added to my buyers list along with adding him to JV list for potential funding and credit partner.

I dropped by SMI Funding and spent some time visiting with Jayme Kahla. She told me about 10 properties in the Dallas market that she had just gotten in that the seller was willing to owner finance with 10% down. I tell you what, networking drives deals to you! These were REO's that you can pick up the entire package for $1.2 Million. I know several investors with $120K that they are looking to do something with. I had her send me the list as I am going to be spending some time in Dallas next week with Lorena Gerlach attending a tax lien course (thanks for the invite Lorena!). Let's see if I can't close those deals or wrap them to end users!

Jayme and I also discussed how we had received two hits to our international quest to raise private money from using international Craigslist. I had one response where the gentleman from the UK can commit from $500K up to $2 Million for deals. I spent some time playing phone tag and dropped him another email to get a better time to contact him and then headed back home.

As I drove home, I got a phone call from one of my contacts, Jennifer. She is a wholesaler out of Charlotte who just had an investor walk on two phenomenal deals. She asked if I would help bail her out of a bad situation and use my marketing skills to help move these properties. I told her I would look at them and go from there. Upon review, I figured I could squeeze $9K out of one deal and $5K out of the second one. That's not to bad to split $14K in wholesale fees for just blasting out to my contact and investor list! (Look for the postlets ads on each to be added below!). That's another potential $7K in my pocket, potential money that is.

When I got back home, I had several email responses from my request for more info from my late night searching activities. I was able to talk one investor into letting me place his $19,900 3/2 listing in Memphis under non-exclusive option and see about flipping it or helping him sell it. He was willing to owner finance the property which gives me a ton of options! That's another property under contract!

I was also able to get several properties in Atlanta under the same type of non-exclusive contract including a very nice duplex with 3/1 on each side that is at 50% of market value. I also got a response from a local investor here in Austin who answered my ad who has a duplex in SoCo (a prime area in Austin) and who is looking to dump it or pay to help sell it. We agreed to meet the next day. I had two other phone calls with investors here locally who had read my blog and were looking to JV on deals. They also offered to bird dog me deals as they come across for $500 a referral. Bingo baby! I just duplicated my efforts!

I have to tell you I am so excited about what's going on and the momentum that is rolling in daily! Thanks for the responses, comments, and well wishes! Let's all get on this train and make a ton of money and help change our lives, communities, and families for the better!

Day 5 wrap up: $15K in private money, 10 DFW homes with owner financing, 1 Memphis Non-exclusive option, and 4 in Atlanta plus 5 JV

 Day 6, July 31, 2009

Today is Friday which most people with jobs are looking forward to the weekend.  With me being a real estate investor, it's just another day.  While my days are often pretty laid back (I often make the comment that each day is a day off, a day of work, and a day of vacation) due to me loving what I do.  The "freeness" of not having a job can be a killer for some people.  I just chose to bust my butt so I can continue to do what I love. 

I spent the morning making some phone calls following up with some of the online leads from Craigslist that I had found the previous night before.  I reached out to the Memphis and Nashville HomeVestors franchise and they told me that they would go through their list of homes and send me some of there sub to's and non-conventional deals that didn't fall into their traditional game plan.

I then followed up with an investor by the name of Steven out of Nashville.  Steven, a Nashville realtor, worked with another investor by the name of Cole who had answered one of my Joint Venture Partners Wanted Craigslist ads that I had posted.  We had a great conversation and he volunteered to put some items together to make our trip to Nashville that much more productive. 

After the phone call with Steven, I headed out to grab some lunch and some steaks for dinner as I was having my two brothers with their significant others (Mike's wife, Arleen, and Tim's fiancé, Lindsay) over for dinner and movie night.  While I was eating lunch, I got a email on my Blackberry from Ray Gonzales.  Ray is a realtor with Casa Grande Realty and works a lot with the hispanic community.  I've closed several deals with Ray and he is a stand up guy who is flexible and usually has a pretty good idea on what I'm looking for.

Anyway, Ray's email was discussing a subject to possibility on a 3/2 in Kyle.  The homeowner was around $2700 dollars behind and would be losing the property the upcoming Tuesday.  The property was worth around $140K, with a balance of $132k, so there wasn't a lot of equity, but what made it attractive was the fixed PITI payment of $890 a month.  I knew that the rental rates in a decent neighborhood or an owner financed deal on such a property would equal several hundred dollars in cash flow along with some profit on a down payment.  I immediately thought about the investor who had contacted me the day before.

I immediately gave my investor a call and went over the deal with her.  She had never dealt with Equity Trust, who was the self directed IRA company that her money was with.  I had dealt with Equity Trust quite a bit in the past and so I went through what she would have to do to get the deal together.  We agreed to each do some quick work on the property and talk later that afternoon.

When I got home, I pulled up the tax appraisal on the Kyle property along with contacting my title agent to do a quick title search to see if there were any other outstanding liens on the property.  I pulled up Google Earth and was able to pull a picture of the property which looked like a nice two story house in a cookie-cutter neighborhood just off of the main highway in Kyle.  The more I looked into it, the better I liked the deal. 

I called my investor up along with Ray and set up a 2pm appointment on Saturday to go view the property and meet with the home owners.  Ray was excited and so was my investor and myself. After scheduling our meetup, I jumped online and posted a few Craigslist ads to identify and find some potential owner financed buyers.  I came across a couple postings for rentals in the same area that supported my earlier thoughts.

After putting a file together on the property that I could take to the property, I began working on making some calls to some hard money lenders in the area for REO's.  I left several messages and decided to make sure and follow up with my list of lenders on the following Monday.  I decided to wrap the day up and started marinating my steaks for dinner along with making green bean casserole.  Day 6 turned out to be alright.

Day 6 Wrap Up

One Subject To, four hard money lenders, and two bird dogs in Tennessee plus six tasy steaks! Life is good!

Day 7, Saturday, August 1, 2009

I started off Saturday morning by preparing my subject to package for the Kyle property.  I had my Authorization form, Sales Contract, Warranty Deed, Lease agreement, and Sub To Amendment.  I printed everything out along with charging my camera and Flip camera.

After putting that package together, I received an email from one of my local investors who was looking for an owner financed property because he had a buyer with about $10K down and looking for a $1500 a month payment along with more down.  I shot him back an email to give me a call later.  I then got a phone call from another local wholesaler by the name of Blake.  Blake and I chose to meet later Saturday night to discuss some deals and joint ventures that he was working on.  At about the same time, my fax machine let me know that I had received a signed assignment of contract form from one of my other investors on another wholesale deal.  Let's see if they close before I count the cash on that one!

I headed out to meet Ray Gonzales and my private investor Tina.  On the way, I received a call from one of my existing private investors who had a brother who wanted to invest with me.  While he only had $5K, he could come in handy on another subject to deal.  Hey, I'll take every dollar of private money that I can get, and when I mentioned a subject to deal to them, they were excited at the possibility.  

I arrived at Lowe's, ran inside and bought a For Sale By Owner sign and stand and then jumped in the car with Ray and Tina.  We discussed the deal at hand and Ray shared a few other deals that he was working on. 

As we arrived at the property we counted up a few properties for sale and lease.  The house was in great condition except that it needed new internal paint and carpet cleaning.  The home owners were extremely nice, but upon further inspection, the numbers that Ray had told us about were not accurate.  It turns out that the payment did not include taxes or insurance and that there were foreclosure fees involved, bringing the total up to $13,000 and a monthly payment of $1390 a month, both of which were deal killers.  

We offered to work a short sale for the clients, but unfortunately they decided that they didn't want to go through that along with signing an authorization form (which was a deal killer).  I wrote Tina a quick note stating "It's not a deal" and after a few minutes, after discussing the options that the homeowners might have, we headed out.  You have to be prepared to walk away from deals that don't make sense.  Having multiple exit strategies is important but if a deal doesn't work, just walk away and move on to the next one.

After getting back to Austin, I headed back home and received a phone call from another local investor by the name of Jennie who was responding to my email blast from earlier in the week.  She stated that she had around $50K to invest with on a flip, sub to, or wholesale flip. She was heading out of town for a day or so, so we agreed to talk later in the week once I got back from Dallas. That's a total of $60K in private funds raised from simple spreading the word of what I am working on.

After getting home and cleaning up a bit, I checked my email and was excited to see an email from my good friend, Jamie Harrington, from North Carolina.  She was forwarding me a 4plex/condo deal in Houston that needed finishing.  The ARV on the property was supposed to be at $240K that I could pick up for around $75K, complete the $65K in repairs and then either hold onto and rent out, or sell it to someone else.  Ka-ching!  I love buying properties in Houston.  I dropped the seller a quick email for more information.  

So it wasn't a bad day for a Saturday.  While I cancelled one deal, I was also able to raise $60K on autopilot along with being referred a four plex that I would rather run with that seemed like a lot better deal.  Time to reheat one of my steaks from last night, pop a top on a Shiner, and throw a DVD on and relax.  I should be meeting Blake later along with answering a few phone calls and emails, but I'm satisfied with Day 7.  I'll be heading to Dallas tomorrow to work with Lorena on the 22 owner financed properties along with attending a tax lien seminar Monday through Wednesday where I'll have the opportunity to network with hopefully quite a few investors.  I smell opportunity!

Day 7 Wrap Up: $60k in private funds raised, 1 owner financed buyer, and one potential wholesale/rehab 4 plex in Houston.  

Day 8, Sunday, August 2, 2009

Sunday is a light day. I like to spend my Sunday's reposting Craigslist ads along with updating my online marketing.  I've had investors who like to look at houses, or get their mailers out along with checking out yard sales for deals.  I started off by sending out an email blast to help drive traffic to my webinar with Bob Leonetti and Jayme Kahla to discuss our Path to Profits Workshop in Nashville along with discussing the rollout of the $100K in 100 Day Real Estate Challenge.

I created a Postlets ad to attact Joint Venture/Private Investors in the Houston market.  My ad link is below.  I also updated all of my Craigslist ads along with my two Postlets on the Charlotte wholesale deals.  I actually recieved a couple phone calls on my Charlotte ads and forwarded them to my Charlotte wholesaler, Jennifer, to set up an appointment.  

I also updated my Facebook page to request a Joint Venture partner as well.  I was excited to get two emails from investors who wanted more information as well.  I also sent an email to one of my attorney buddies in Houston to request a funding referral as well for my four plex deal and future Houston deals.  Here is what the letter looks like for you to use:

Hey Jason,

I’m glad to see that your enjoying the pictures that I just placed on Facebook! I got a good laugh out them myself.  Your kids are growing up fast!  Makes me (and I’m sure you as well) feel old.  Anyway, I wanted to reach out to you to see if you might know of some one that might be able to help me.  I’ve got a phenomenal deal that I’m working on and getting ready to place under contract.  I’ve got a 4 plex off of De Soto in Houston (2, 3/2’s, and 2 2/2’s) that it looks like I’m going to be able to pick up for around $70k or less.  The property needs some work, around $15-20K per unit on the high end.  The property should be worth around approximately $240K when I’m finished with the deal, giving me around roughly $100 K or so in profit.  I wanted to reach out to you to see if you might know of someone who I might be able to talk to see if they would be willing to be a funding partner or private investor for me. 

Their investment would be secured with a 1^st lien, low loan to value, mortgage, title insurance, home owner’s insurance, and the fact that their money would only be 60% 1^st lien.  I would really appreciate any referral that you might have.  I believe that we could have the project done in 3 months, get the property rented, and then flip the property for a nice profit.  I have a business partner who is a seasoned rehabber who has two crews that will be evaluating the project this week.

I've attached a link with pictures to give you an idea of what the units look like.   I may have a private investor lined up, but I always like to have back up!  I will have more projects available that I am currently evaluating in the Houston area. http://www.postlets.com/res/2557300

Thanks for your time and referral!

This would also be a great letter to send out in a email blast to your group of contacts.  I was excited to hear from one of my 1:1 coaching students, David Meier, may have raised over $250k in private money!  Way to go David!  Keep up the great work!

Anyway, enjoy your light day and get ready for another busy week!  Stay Tuned! 

 Day 9, Monday August 3, 2009

It's Monday and while a lot of people don't look forward to the start of the week, it's just another glorious day to me.  I like Monday's because it often can dictate how your week is going to be.  I'm a big believer in positive energy and if you are down on Monday, it can affect your week in a negative way and make it drag on. 

I spent most of my morning making phone calls to  twenty hard money lenders in the state of Texas looking for REO's.  I look doing this at least once a quarter because hard money lenders will often have some sweet deals for investors to buy.  My friend, Minka Anderson, with Noble Capital mentioned that she didn't have anything for me currently, but would have something the first of the month for me as they were foreclosing on a property the first part of September.  I recieved a couple of leads from some other lenders, but nothing to be excited about. 

Networking is a big part of my business and I'm a member of several networking clubs outside of the proverbial real estate clubs.  I'm joining the Young Austin Chamber of Commerce (which is a great club to meet some people my same age group who are making things happen) and sent invites out to some of my friends to join me Wednesday over some cocktails and talk some business.  Whether its the Chamber of Commerce, Lions Club, Rotary or other clubs, these are great places to get the word out on what you do and to often raise private money as well. 

I spent some time working on looking at some CMA's that Allison Lopez sent over to me and we arranged a time for me to meet over at Amber Gunn's office so that I could get the contracts signed.  I also spent some time talking with Amber to finalize a huge realtor blitz to over 6000 realtors in the Austin market to identify deals, short sales, and REO's along with getting the word out on what I'm looking for.  All I can say is the more people you talk to, the better off you are going to be and more deals will find there way to you!

I spent quite a bit of my time today answering questions from other investors and helping coach a few of my 1:1 students from raising private money to non-exclusive options, to talking deals.  I expect to get a lot of my calls that I left to hard money lenders returned later in the week so I'm setting myself up to have a heavy week on the backend which is what I'm looking for since I'm home now instead of heading to Dallas.  While it seems like a light day, making phone calls is something that has to be done and something that most investors stray away from.  Once you get into it, it's not that bad and the 600 pound telephone feels more like 6 ounces after your done. 

So in wrapping up Monday, I spent some time networking, calling hard money lenders, and working on expansive emails blasts!  Wow, look at the time!  I have to jump on a Path To Profits and $100K in 100 Day Webinar with Bob and Jayme in a few minutes!  Gotta go!

Day 10, Tuedsay, August 4, 2009

The first Tuesday of the month in Texas is the day that foreclosures happen in each county. When I'm home, I usually make an appearance at the auction, not to bid, but to pick up other investors and potential buyers and private investors who are looking to break into real estate investing. My usual goal is to talk to and get at least five contacts, but hopefully I can walk away with ten.

I try to tackle both the tax and traditional foreclosures. I've seen several investors get burned by not being prepared at auction, so I don't usually recommend buying unless you have a lot of cash and have done your homework. If you are looking for foreclosure lists for the IH 35 corridor (Dallas, Austin, San Antonio Markets etc) use the Foreclosure Listing Service (www.flsonline.com), or otherwise known as the Roddy report. I got started sending out yellow letters and postcards to the foreclosure list. I think that is still a great way to get started if you don't have a list of investors or birddogs feeding you deals. I still believe that you have crawl before you walk and dealing with homeowners is still the best way to get your feet wet by structuring deals and figuring out how to help the "motivated."

I was all ready to head out to the foreclosure auction and my phone started ringing. I talked with my wholesaler in Atlanta who was calling to touch base with me on the triplex that he had sent over. I asked him to send me some comparables so that I could truly evaluate it. I also received several phone calls from local investors who wanted to touch base with me regarding the webinar that I had the previous night. I spoke for a while with Mike Nopper, and David Kross, who were both interested to learn more about the coaching program that I offer.

After visiting with the investors, I received another phone call from a wholesaler out of Nashville, Curt David, who has properties in Memphis, Charlotte, and Atlanta. I had a great discussion with him about what I was looking for as far as deals and he discussed with me about their hard money and private money lenders. I requested that he touch base with his local lenders for any defaulted notes or REO's that I could make an offer on along with any other properties that he might have. After wrapping up the call with him, I realized that it was now after 12. So much for making it to the foreclosure auction!

I spent some time answering emails and working on some of my blogs and I received a phone call from David Meier, one of my Houston investors. David was doing some due diligence on my Houston four plex. We discussed some items and he stated that he would rerun some numbers along with telling me that there were a lot of 4 plexes that were vacant. I discussed with him that we should take the entire block of apartments down (which was around 200 units), do the rehab, rent them out, and then sell them off. He loved the idea and I discussed coming out later in the week to look at the properties myself.

I then got a phone call from my realtor, Amber Gunn. Amber wanted to see if I wanted to meet for happy hour to go over some of my offers along with reviewing some listings that she had come across. I told her I would meet her is a little while at the Iron Cactus so we could take advantage of the wi-fi and have a drink or two! I agreed!

The Iron Cactus has a great, quiet bar and is a nice place to relax but get a lot of work done during the day if you need a spot. Amber arrived about 15 minutes after I did. We discussed some items that we are keeping each other accountable for. She suggested that I sign up as an assitant to her to get my own access to the MLS for about $300 for the year. I love the idea and she got me signed up!

We also discussed a potential infomercial that we were both solicited for. We found out that the event would take place while I was out of town. I then had her pull a list of properties off of the MLS by using the keywords "motivated, Handyman, and investor" along with looking at homes below $150K. We identified around 125 listings and we identified several right off of the bat that would make great deals, so I had her send me the listings so that I could review them the next day and make some offers before the end of the week. Amber and I discussed several other items that we were working on and so we wrapped up our day by heading to dinner and a movie.

After the movie, The Ugly Truth, I headed home and talked with David Meier regarding the apartments along with working on some Facebook marketing and reviewing the listings that Amber had sent me. Another busy day!

Day 10 Wrap Up: Ten more investors added to my buyers list, one four plex turns into 29+, along with 125 Investor, motivated, and handyman listings below $150k to review. I'll be up late working on looking at listings!

Day 11, Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Today in some circles is humpday. The weekend is in reach if you can just grind out a few more days.  This 100 day challenge is a marathon and not a sprint.  I spent the morning at home answering emails and speaking with a few investors.  

I set up a noon appointment with a builder out of San Antonio by the name of Charles Johnson.  I'm working on helping him avoid having 20 plus of his low end new build homes go to foreclosure by buying the notes out of foreclosure.  This is a deal that I've been working for several weeks and will not count towards the $100K in 100 Days, but it still needs attention. Charles and I are going to spend some time discussing his business and see about working together on some other items.  I'm scheduled to meet him on Thursday at noon at Starbucks in Round Rock, Texas.

I talked with my investor, David Meier, who is helping me complete some due diligence on the 288 units in Houston.  I decided that I was going to drive down Friday morning to view the properties with him and help perform some of the phone calls and due diligence and inspection of the properties to gauge interest along with being able to come back to my San Francisco investor with better numbers.  Numbers are everything in this business and if you don't know value, cost, repairs, ARV (After Repair Value), you really don't know didly about the deal.  Since I was planning on being out of town most of the day Friday, I decided I had better head down to the office to check in with Bob's two right hands, Kari Banse and DeAnna Rogers, SMI's wonderful office assitants!

As I was getting ready to head out, I received a phone call from Steve Homer, a realtor with Keller Williams.  Steve is also the president of the Williamson County REI club that I attend when ever I am home.  Steve wanted to know if I would be able to speak on Thursday night as their scheduled speaker had a sudden emergency.  I told him that I would be delighted to speak and we discussed me speaking on the topic of "Using the Internet and Web 2.0 to Grow Your Real Estate Business."  I was excited.  I love to network and speak on investing.  While WCREI is a smaller club, it's a great way for me to practice my newest speech on the subject.  While I've given the speech to my coaching students on several occasions, this would be the first in front of an audience instead of over the phone.  Piece of cake!

When I arrived, I spent some time talking wtih Jayme Kahla.  Jayme is going to be filming an infomercial on Saturday and I wanted to hang out and view the filming.  She asked me to submit or film a testimonial for the infomercial and I was glad to oblige.  I owe Bob and Jayme a ton for where I am at today.  They've helped mentor and coach me tremendously and I've learned more importantly how to make money and how to run a business and for that I will always be grateful.  I discussed the Houston deal and she liked the idea and the price point and promised to help assist me in putting a presentable deal together once I got all my informatoin together.  Commercial investing is just as exciting if not more than residential investing but I prescribe to the Ron LeGrand theory, "Make you cashflow with residential and get rich on commercial!"

I spent the next few hours discussing things over with DeAnna and Kari.  I went over some of the social networking websites that they are working on along with brainstorming with Kari on some future webinar and conference calls.  I helped them both identify some groups that we could target to not only get the word out on what we do as a company, but also spread the word on our different seminars (Path 2 Profits, Commercial Bootcamp, Private Money, and Internet Marketing).  

Jayme and Bob were having some touch up paint done to the house and the fumes were starting to fill the office so the three of us decided it was time for the girls to take their lunch break and we headed to a nearby restauant to grab an appetizer, cold drink and talk about our coaching and upcoming seminar.

After spending some time relaxing (90 minutes), we headed back to the office and wrapped up some items that we were working on.  I spoke with a few investors on the phone regarding some of the deals that they were working on (and one of them committed $55K as private money for a deal) and then convinced Kari Banse to join me at the Austin Young Chamber of Commerce Networking Mixer at Speakeasy on 5th street.  

We arrived to a crowded bar of several hundred young Austinites. We grabbed a drink and then found a table to relax.  We talked with a few people before some of our friends arrived.  I had invited my realtor, Amber Gunn, along with Minka Anderson, hard money lender with Streamline funding to join us.  The both arrived about the same time.  I introduced them both to Kari and we sat down and started talking. 

Minka and I discussed several REO's and defaulted commercial deals that Streamline Funding had and was looking to get their principle back on.  They both sounded like phenomenal note opportunities at around 25 cents on the dollar so I agreed to follow up with her the following day to get the packages on them both.  Amber saw someone she noticed and headed off to say hi.  Minka and I talked about working together to raise some capital for some deals and we agreed to discuss that more at a time later in the week.

Amber came back to the table.  She had seen someone on the AYC board that she knew and had him in tow behind her.  She introduced him to me, Louney, I believe his name was.  I didn't hear what Amber had told him, but somehow she had convinced him and a couple other board members that they needed to meet with us to discuss working on some deals along with a couple potential speaking and writing gigs for the AYC.  

Having friends that are just as motivated as you are is a blessing.  I always try to promote my friends that are true entrepreneurs and who do a wonderful job and they in turn will do the same for me.  I've helped Amber do some promos and brainstorming on her Open To Close (www.myopentoclose.com) realtor concierge, short sale, and loan modification business and she's helped spread the word on my coaching program.  We've collaborated on several networking and teaching ideas and she's truly been a blessing to my business.  Thanks Amber!

Anyway, we met a few more people along with an auctioneer named Andrew.  I spent some time discussing home auctions with him to see if he might be interested.  He liked the idea but had never explored it.  I decided I would give him a call back when he wasn't busy checking out Kari! Amber and Minka both decided it was time for their exit. With that, Kari and I decided it was time to head out.  Kari dropped me off at my car and I headed home.  

I love it when my Wednesday's feel more like a Friday! Here's what we accomplished today!

Two speaking gigs, $55K in private money raised, and two large commercial defaulted notes to evaluate along with working to book many webinar and conference calls with other guru's.  I was also offered a job to join Streamline Funding to help raise capital for their private equity fund.  That'll take some thinking!  Just another day in my life!

Day 16, Monday, August 10th was a busy day of finalizing plans for the Path to Profits Workshop.  I spent the morning making my final calls and and working on getting my plans in line for Austin as I was going to be gone for almost two weeks from home.  

I spent lunch down at the office working some last minute details with Kari and DeAnna, along with touching base with if they needed anything from me for the Path to Profits workshop.  I ended up spending most of the afternoon packing until I ended up meeting Amber Gunn and her kids for dinner and a night out at the Maine Event playing games and lazertag.  Oh to be a kid again!

Day 17, Tuesday August 11th started off kind of rocky!  I almost missed my 7am flight out of Austin to Nashville, but was able to get an escort through security and made the plane to the humor of Bob Leonetti, my traveling companion.  We were headed to Nashville to teach the Path to Profits Workshop.  Upon arriving in Nashville, Bob and Roland spent the afternoon working with Lorena (who had arrived the night before with her son, William) and myself on our public and platform speaking.  We wrapped up the day around 8pm in Nashville and prepped for the following inner circle day with our 1:1 students along with Lorena and me focusing on finding deals in the Nashville market.  

Day 19, Thursday, August 13, 2009. This marked the first official day of Path to Profits. It was nice to meet several of my Facebook and blog followers, Kurtis, Tom, Richard, and Misty. Lorena and I hung around the event until after the first event to help get things going and then we headed out with the company of William and my realtor, Ms. Amber Gunn, who had flown up to Nashville to surprise me along with learning more about what I do as a speaker and educator.

Lorena and I had successful negotiated several properties under contract the previous day from our work along with finding deals in Memphis, Atlanta, and Charlotte. William identified several preforeclosures along with running a Realtor.com blast. We spent a large amount of the time working on marketing those couple of deals along with lining up several deals to evaluate later the next day.

At the end of Thursday, we had five properties under option along with several investors lined up to review. I wrapped up the last few minutes before we headed out to the Path to Profits Networking Event by posting the last few properties on my Postlets.com (www.postlets.com/1scottcarson) page to market them.

Day 20, Friday August 14th was another busy day of working deals. William and I spent some time contacting three of his realtors with potential deals and Lorena and I spent some more time contacting investors in our four markets. We spent some time helping Bob with the event (Lorena discussing finding a realtor and me working with Roland to find private money and REO's). Along with working the event, we spent a good chunk of time working with students to help take their real estate businesses to the next level.

Day 21, Saturday, August 15th was a day of social networking. Roland and Bob discussed how Lorena and I had spent so much time focusing on finding deals without all the work. We had the good fortune of having Steve from Investor Nation out of Memphis drop by (which we had several of their properties under contract) and Lorena and I enjoyed visiting with him in front of the class to identify investment opportunities along with how we had come across his services. I also took some time to film a quick YouTube video discussing our deals and what we were looking for in Nashville.

The biggest highlight of the day was helping Jayme film a infomercial testimonial along with seeing Amber identify the opportunity in potentially negotiating the purchase of the notes on her short sale business in Austin. We discussed partnering up on the deals and we put a plan of action into place for when I arrived back in Austin. See the video below!

Day 22, Sunday, August 16th started off with me opening up Path to Profits.  I wrapped up my talk with a wonderful surprise in my water bottle that I grabbed off of the stage....half vodka/half water!  Bob had enlisted Jesse and Kari Banse to help play the ultimate prank on me!  I laughed my ass off and the class got a good kick out Bob's ribbing of me.  We focused on marketing, working with the students, and tying up loose ends on our nine wholesale deals.  The event wrapped up and Lorena and I gameplanned on the follow up on our deals.  We ended the day with a nice dinner with the majority of the REPC crew enjoying a few laughs and planning the next week out.  While everyone else would return home, I had planned to fly down to Atlanta to spend the next week with 1:1 students, Jamy Vanderwoude and Jason Amash.

Day 23, Monday August 17th was a busy day of travel as I left Nashville at 1pm and arrived in Atlanta at 6pm after spending some time in Charlotte on a delayed lay over.  Jamy and I chose to start the next day, Tuesday, at 9 am.  Check out what I covered in Atlanta by checking out my blog, Atlanta Real Estate Investment Training.

Hey Everybody!

Boy has life been busy! I apologize for slacking off on getting daily updates on my blog but I have been swamped. I've been extremely busy working on some big things and I've narrowed my focus down to just a few items.

One of the biggest things that I'm doing is working on marketing a 53 unit apartment complex in Dallas that is a $1.2 Million sales price which results in a 12.5% cap rate and has right at a 30% cash on cash return! Commercial real estate has a tremendous amount of upside, but it does take time to get done! I've been marketing it for about two months and I've had two buyers who got cold feet, but things are looking well with a 3rd buyer! Because it hasn't closed yet, I can't divulge all the details yet, but it'll be a great payday!

I'm also doing a tremendous amount of distressed asset buying. I'm currently reviewing 147 1st liens that I'm direct to the bank on and that can be cherry picked! These notes can be picked up for pennies on the dollar. Along with that, I'm reviewing two REO pools that I'm also direct to the bank on as well. One nationwide pool and one Florida pool. Things are going well!

What I'm really excited about is something that I will be sharing over the next few months in some new blogs. If you want to see and learn about short papering short sales, take a look at a website and blog that my partner/realtor, Amber Gunn and I have set up to educate realtors and investors. Check out www.AskAmberandScott.wordpress.com to find out more info!

My apology on keeping you all out of the loop....I've been so busy streamlining and organizing things that my blogging just had to take a back seat! More pictures and videos to follow as I squeeze time out of my schedule! I've wholesaled several other properties, worked on a variety of short sales and notes and made money on several other items in real estate. Keep coming back for more info!