My husband and I arrived in America in 1995. We traveled for the first three years and settled down in Pennsylvania seven years ago. At that time we came across an ad for a real estate seminar where a “millionaire guru promises to show you how to make millions in real estate without any money.”
Several of his seminars and $10,000 later, we still had not bought a house, but we started to look for properties. In December 1999, we bought our first rental property and we proceeded to add a few others in the years to follow. Our two sons were born, I continued to work full-time as a registered nurse, and we were trying our luck investing in real estate on the side.
In 2003, we got some lease options after attending another real estate seminar, and we continued to educate ourselves by reading real estate books and listening to tapes. But we still lacked the knowledge to turn it into a real business.
This changed in June 2004 when my very supportive husband enabled me to attend Ed Garcia and Terry Vaughan’s workshop How to Get Lenders Fighting to Give You Money.
To say that this seminar changed our lives is putting it mildly. During this intense workshop, I got to meet these two wonderful people who really knew what they were talking about. They taught me how to think bigger–think as a real estate investor.
From early morning to late at night, they were available to answer questions and teach us about advanced real estate investing and how to obtain lines of credit. After I returned home, I started working with Ed Garcia on our business plan and prepared myself for contacting banks.
Initially I was very nervous, but Ed helped me by role-playing the scenarios and guiding me through the process. His and Terry’s mentoring was priceless. He saved us $18,000 on one deal alone.
I resigned from my job as a registered nurse and became a full-time real estate investor, along with my husband. With Ed’s help we obtained our first line of credit for $500,000, which has allowed us to make cash offers. The change this has made to our business in incredible.
I returned to Atlanta this July and attended the workshop again, now as an alumnus. I could not believe the amount of new information I got and the effect it has had on my perceptions as a real estate investor. The networking has been amazing, and we are currently working with one fellow attendee on a real estate deal.
Although we were investing in real estate prior to the workshop and going through the moves, it was Ed and Terry who gave us wings and helped us soar . . . Thank you, Ed and Terry!