Commercial Real Estate Investment Articles

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 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.

This is a real estate investing success story form a part-time “oldie” who finally found that little diamond in the rough. The opportunity came from my involvement in tax lien certificates.

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.

A few months ago, I purchased Ron Legrand’s, Quick-Turn, Fast-Cash Real Estate, course from this site. I studied it, then tried to apply it. After a short time, I gave up. It wasn’t until about a month ago that I gave it another try. This time, I struck gold (literally and figuratively). I completed my first lease option deal. Here are the terms…

After seeing a recent post on the Main Real Estate Forum, I thought it may be nice to share what I have been able to accomplish as a new investor working the real estate investing arena part time while holding a full-time job in the military. The six deals I will outline all took place in a 58-day span working part-time hours.

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.

I wanted to let you know about my first deal. It started when I spotted an ad in the Sunday paper with the words “Land Contract.” I called the owner and asked if he would do a lease option rather than the land contract, and he said: “Yes.” So I made an appointment to look at the property.

While fellow CRE Onliner, John Holt, and I have graduated from college, we thought this title was appropriate since we both went to the same college, graduated at the same time, and even roamed the halls of the same science building. However, we never met until CRE Online and a mobile home brought us together.

Thanks to Lonnie Scruggs, Ernest Tew, Bill Bronchick, Terry Vaughan, and lots of others for an education I couldn’t have bought in school. I’ve been using ideas from all of you for several deals.

I set up all of my single family home rentals on a lease option to purchase basis. Columbus, Ohio is a great market, so typically, a three-day ad is all I need to rent a place. I’ll receive an average of 35 to 40 calls per day while the ad is running. I make it a point to call back each and every person responding to an ad, even if I’ve already rented the advertised home.

I read JP Vaughan’s How-To Article, several times to really understand what she was saying.

It’s been a while since I have visited the site, and it looks great…I have been busy working my full-time (and then some) job while always hunting for good real estate investments here in the Houston area.

First I would like to thank everyone who shares their secrets and ideas on this incredible site. I have found a wealth of info almost every day.

Just had to send another “thank you” for all the assistance I’ve gotten from this site. I have a purchase contract and a sell contract signed and escrow was opened today on another deal.

Susan and I recently attendedBig Profits wtih Lease Options Workshop. I thought you might like to have an update on what we’ve done in the few months since these workshops.

I called on an ad in the “for rent” section and believed to have a on the other end. I went to see the house, which was located in a nice area. The home was a three-bedroom/one-bathroom that need some updating. The owner had another home and was paying two mortgages because this home used to be his grandmother’s, but she was moving in with one of her sons.

I received a call one afternoon from a woman named Leanne. She was married with three grown children. She wanted to sell their house, so I went through the process of screening the call and getting the relevant information about the house, the mortgage balances, and what they wanted. It was a nice house, 3/1, 1300 sf, basement, on 2.5 acres, no repairs needed, just outside a town called Spencer, Indiana.

As many of you already know, I started my real estate investing venture on June 21, 1998. At that time I had not done one deal. I was going through a very difficult time in my life and went for broke. I quit my job, I had no money, and I had bad (but improving) credit. I had my bills covered for one month.

I can’t believe the deal that fell into my lap a couple of months back. I was helping my parents sell their home “for sale by owner.” At the open house, an interested buyer said he was interested in the larger home, but they needed to sell their house first.

I would just like to thank for the inspiring seminar I went to several months ago. I met a lot of great people, and I am starting to see what a little bit of education and work can do for your lifestyle. Here are some of the mobile home deals I did in the last three months.

This isn’t a rags to riches story. This isn’t to sell books or courses I’ve written. This isn’t to impress you. It isn’t even to feel better about myself or what we’ve accomplished. This is fact, nothing more. JP has requested my story a couple times already, and I’ve promised I’d get it done. So here it is.

seemed to be the hot topic on the Creative Real Estate Online, so I thought I would order Lonnie Scruggs’ book Deals On Wheels and check out mobile home investing. For just $35, what did I have to lose?

I have always wanted to invest in real estate ever since I had to sell my New Hampshire home during a divorce and made $51,000.

After reading Lonnie’s two books three times [Deals on Wheels and Making Money with Mobile Homes], I was really anxious to try my first “Lonnie Deal.” I traveled around a couple of mobile home parks in May, and finally spotted a run down, overgrown 1968 12 X 56 Liberty mobile home in the third park.This is a nice park in a small town about 10 minutes from a good size city.