Just sold my first investment property for $37,000 net profit. Man, I’m fired up about this business. Here’s how it went down:
1. Went to CRE Online Convention as a newbie. Bought Ron LeGrand’s and Robert Kiyosaki’s materials, and asked lots of questions from the attending gurus (especially Ron LeGrand, Bill Bronchick, and Ed Garcia).
2. Spent two months absorbing LeGrand, attending local REI club meetings, and reading the CRE Online Main Real Estate Forum.
3. After absorbing LeGrand, I had a website developed with friend’s help and put ad in local paper: “I Buy Houses at Fair Market Value.”
4. Quickly received a call from a motivated seller who was going to trustee sale in five days. $285k home with $192k 1st trust deed ($20k arrears) and $35k 2nd trust deed ($8k arrears). That’s a total of $255k in encumbrances. Offered 2nd trust deed holder $3,500 for his note and he took it. (That’s a $39.5k discount!)
I gave $10k ($5k now and $5k after I flip to someone else) to seller to deed me property, and I took property subject to the existing 1st trust deed. I reinstated the 1st trust deed with credit cards, and $3,500 from my pocket for the 2nd trust deed.
All this within five days of the trustee sale. Paid $4k for repairs. Yesterday, I received check from escrow for $81k. After paying various expenses (including holding costs, loans, repairs, etc..), I netted about $37k in two months! What a country! I’ll never look at my job the same way!
5. What to do with $37k? Buy a timeshare (wholesale of course!), $1k for spouse’s spending fancy, $2k in Roth IRA (for more real estate investments), $600 or so for CRE Online Convention 2001, and the rest back into the business.
6. What’s next? Keep the marketing machine rolling, read more CRE Online forums and continue to learn and deal, learn and deal.
As a newbie, what did it take? Spending a few bucks to get educated, a little mentoring and getting out of my comfort zone and applying the knowledge by putting in some action.
Anyway, gotta love this business! Sorry for the long post but I’ve been waiting a long time to shout about my first deal. Thanks to all the gurus who answered my various questions on this site as my deal was developing. It was invaluable. JP, thanks for the forum.