Commercial Real Estate Investment Articles

Four years ago I, like so many others, FINALLY broke down and bought the Carleton Sheets course. After being exposed to the numbers involved in real estate investing, I knew that if there was one field to make big money working for yourself, real estate was it.

If you haven’t read my first story, then you don’t know that I’m brand new at this stuff. You do now. My friends haven’t figured out whether I’m a budding genius or a blooming idiot. I lean towards the former, naturally, but most think the latter is closer to home.

I am not sure if you would consider this for your “Success Stories” or not but, if nothing else, I wanted to write it as a “thank you” to you and all the inspiration that I have seen on this site. I have been silent for the most part for the past two years or so, but I read all the messages on the at least every other day. I have asked a few questions, and have always learned from the answers.

We purchased a 5-bedroom/2.5-bath house for $87,000. We spent $6,000 in rehab (interior paint, all new floor coverings, misc cleaning and yard work), and put the house on the market for $119,900. Similar houses in this plat are selling in the $130,000 – $150,000 range, and we put this one on the market at a price to sell quickly. In three days, we had a full price offer, and the deal with the buyer closed today.

I’m a part-time real estate investor. I frequently read the success stories on CRE Online to gain knowledge and for the motivation it provides to me.

I am a 25-year-old school teacher in the sunny state of Florida. I always have my hands in something that generates profits on the side. I play a lot of tennis, and thank God, because one night I was in the club house chatting with someone who really knew how to make a living in this creative real estate stuff.

Last fall, I found a 10-unit apartment building in a suburban town just outside where I live that was being used by an elderly lady as a single family residence. She had purchased it a few years back so some of her children and grandchildren could live with her (in their own apartments) as she got older and needed their help.

I am about to close on my third “Lonnie Deal” and my yields are improving significantly. My partner and I purchased a 3BR/2 BA, 1983 mobile home in fair condition for $1,400 cash and the two lots for $16,000 with $2,000 down and owner financing for the balance at 7% and payments of $200/month.

While attending the Creative Real Estate Online Convention in Las Vegas this past March, I had the luck of running into a friend I hadn’t seen in many years. Ben Moye and I were introduced approximately ten years ago in middle Georgia. Ben is in the commercial sign business. I contacted his firm to build a sign for one of my business locations.

I have owned rental property for twelve years now. Just collecting rents and doing what “investors” have done forever: Letting my tenants pay my mortgages and build my equity.

I had bought Bill Bronchick’s Big Profits with Lease Options and had been procrastinating about getting started. One day in Home Depot this person I had not seen in quite a while asked me how I was and if I was still in the contracting (fence and deck) business. I responded that I was, but I had also started investing in real estate. She says that I should buy her house.

Well, I feel like my real estate efforts have come full circle, and I can clearly see my future path ahead of me. On Thursday, I closed on my first apartment building and walked away from closing with an $11,000 check! If you have read my other success stories ($24,000 cash, $138,000 Equity and More and My Second Success Story), then you will notice that my deals usually come in pairs. This one is no exception.

I have been in the restaurant business for 20 years. One night, after a 14-hour day, in a motel away from my family AGAIN, I was still up at 2 am. For what seemed like the 1000th time in the past few years, I was watching the Carleton Sheets infomercial on the television. Once again I was thinking, “If those guys can do that, so can I.” But this time was different, this time I picked up the phone and ordered the course.

I still consider myself a “newbie” in the real estate investing world. I often hear the “gurus” say to find a technique and perfect it before moving on to a new one; that will keep you from trying to do too many things at once. It seems like the deals that come my way, though, each require a different approach.

This past May, I purchased Deals on Wheels from this site. When it arrived I read it all at once. After reading the book, I decided to refinance two of my rental condos and use the cash to buy some mobile homes.

Many people say that you can’t make a dollar on every deal, but my very first deal proves them wrong. I was a new real estate investor with nothing but ambition when I found this beautiful new home in an affluent suburb of my county. The home was built by a local builder who was unable to sell the home and the bank foreclosed.

I was a wannabe real estate investor for several years, watching from the sidelines. I finally got the nerve to go out and test the market after many hours of studying and reading. The information and encouragement at CRE Online has been invaluable.

It has now been two months since we moved. However, unlike the rest of our friends, we are now getting PAID to live in our house! We moved into a triplex and keep the other two units rented out. The rental income pays for the mortgage and taxes and puts a bit aside for upkeep. Every month we get our checks for $1,400 and all we have to do is pay our own utilities. (Tenants also pay their own.)

I thoroughly enjoy reading about other newcomers’ successes and figured I’d share ours. I’ve read and thought about real estate investing for many years and never took action. My wife and I both work full-time and have two kids under three. We finally decided to get serious, and here’s our story

All the appear to be written by men, and women only come into it as partners in the deals. I’m not walking out of closings with money-back checks. I’m not doing simultaneous closings and being paid for being in the right place with the right knowledge.

On a Thursday, I looked in the paper under “investment property.” The ad read: “Great income potential, 3-4 family apartment $18,500, needs work.” So I called the number and went to look at it. The apartment did need some work. I went home, punched some numbers, and saw that I could make a lot of money on the rentals (two 2 bedrooms and one 1 bedroom).

Here is my first success story and my first deal ever. This is what got me hooked!

On January 1, 2000 I called on a mobile home listed in the paper for $6,500. During our conversation, I learned that they had just moved back home to Louisiana and the home was vacant. He informed me that the home would be able to remain in the park.

After reading posts on CRE Online and after finding motivated sellers then screwing up the deal, I have finally met with some success. After about a year of looking and trying, I landed three deals in three weeks. Here are the deals, the specs, and the current situation:

or seventeen years, I was a “company man.” But with each passing year, I was becoming more disillusioned with the corporate lifestyle. After watching many friends and family members lose jobs due to plant closings and “right-sizing,” I decided that NOW was the time to take control of my future BEFORE someone else took care of it for me.