Roots and Fruits

Todays post is going to be about my 'take aways' from Bob's bootcamp last week. First let me say that it was awesome. Each and every day I picked up a new tip or trick to apply in my market. Throughout the bootcamp Bob would pick someone's city and go through the mls to determine the opportunity market. It was great to watch him siphon through all the information! One example Bob used was Milwaukee (which was great for me!!). In all of about 30 minutes Bob was able to, pretty confidently, determine an area he would be buying/selling right now. It was really cool to watch. Actually, just the other night I was involved in a conference call with Bob and Mark to record Bob going through Milwaukee's mls and determining an opportunity market. Every time I watch him go through the process I learn something else so I highly recommend you watch when posted. In fact I will post here if allowed.

Okay, the main 'take away' for me was to focus on my roots and not my fruits. I know many of you already do this but, for me, I have been focusing on the end prize - that elusive deal! For now I really need to focus on learning my new market. I already have confidence in my current market and will be watching that as well. I also want to focus more on my health and family. All that weight I lost a few months ago (which wasn't a ton but...) I have gained back. Crap! I just feel so "all over the place" and unfocused at times which leads me into my second 'take away'....

Well, not so much a 'take away' but a commitment to ask Brian Meidam to coach me through this next stage of my REI career. I am going to be calling him this afternoon so I will update later. As I stated above, I feel as though I am not as focused as I should be if I want my end date to be next August. I need to get my act together.

Some other 'take aways' were realizing that everyone in this field has their ups and downs and no matter how long you do this, you still can make mistakes. That was really good for me to hear. I feel like I make some type of mistake on every transaction! Of course, I learn from that mistake but sometimes I put too much pressure on myself to make things "perfect".

Outside of learning how to determine a new opportunity market, the above 'take aways' were the most important to me. Of course, I met some really awsome people along the way from all over the country. Some were newbies but most were experienced investors and all had great information to share!!

My flight took off from Las Vegas at 1am Sunday morning so we were able to spend Saturday night on the town in Vegas. It was a great ending to a great bootcamp!! I would highly recommend attending one of Bob's seminars. He actually has one coming up in November but do not know the dates. If interested, please let me know.

Okay, I'm off to call my new coach (hopefully!)...

Heading to Utah!!

Hello everyone.... today I'm flying off to Utah for my very first real estate seminar. As I said in a previous post, I signed up for Bob's KISS Flipping seminar and am TOTALLY looking forward to it. I'm hoping to learn skills/tips to consistantly find deals and take my RE business to the next level! Woo HOO!

Updates:
I pre-signed for the "auction house" closing last night. The buyers are closing today so all should be good. I think we will walk away with about $6.5k on this one which is pretty good, certainly no slam dunk, but decent nonetheless. With the KISS Flip training under my belt I'm hoping to locate properties with a MUCH higher profit margain. If I can close 5 deals/yr with a $20k - $30k profit margain vs. 10 - 15 deals with $5k - 15k profit margain my life would be a lot less stressful. I also want to investigate other ways to make monthly income. My 'end date' is fast approaching and I can honestly say that I am no where near where I need to be as far as situating my living expenses! Focus, focus, focus!

We never had any interest in our rental property so we are now in the process of putting on a new roof, fixing some siding, putting in some new windows, painting the inside/outside, new carpet and then doing some minor landscaping. I'm still not sure we'll be able to sell it so I'm thinking we're going to have to put a renter in. After we get the renter in I'll probably put back on the market because it seems rentals are easier to sell with a renter in place?! At any rate, when we the work is complete on the property I think I am going to ask the RE agents in the town where this property is located their thoughts on price and selling vs. renting. I'm not really sure how I am going to approach my current agent about this but I think it would be in the best interest of selling the property quickly to go with a local agent!

Another 2 weeks has gone by and only 1 thing has been done on the "A Hole house". 2 Weeks! I am really getting stressed about their lack of concern. I have told them time and time again that I would be happy to help get things done, organize/schedule work to be done, etc. and they always tell me they have it under control. URGH!

The bank ended up accepting our price of $45k on the property we were negotiating last week. However, after going over the numbers again, taking a look at the property/work needed we decided the numbers were just too tight and we didn't accept their acceptance. Maybe of we could get it for $20k? Ha, ha. I'll keep watching it, you just never know!!!

I think that's all the updates I have for now. It doesn't look like I am going to make Steph's 30 day challenge AGAIN! We'll see...

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week/weekend. I know I will!!!!!!

Property Inspection Report

Hello blogosphere! How is everyone doing on this rather chilly September afternoon?? I am doing peachy. I am on the verge of a long weekend and one of my co-workers took my call for the weekend! Yippy (as my 4 year old would say)!!

Okay, how did the inspection go on our new HUD property?! Not good : (
It ends up the foundation (it is a slab) is deteriorating and the cost to repair would be too great. According to my contractor it is basically a tear down. CRAP! This would have been a VERY nice payday. Oh well... on to the next.

Another property I've been watching came down $10k this week for a LP of $54.9k. We resubmitted our offer of $42k and they countered at $53.9k. WOO HOO they came down a whole $1k!! Nowe we're getting somewhere. Urgh. I countered at $45k, which is my best and final, and I have not heard anything yet. Quite frankly I'm pretty sure they will reject. I would be shocked if they accepted but I suppose stranger things have happened? Seems like the banks are really sticking to their guns around here. I know it's a numbers game but all the REO offers I've made get rejected on the 2nd counter. BUT, I keep submitting just to annoy them : )

I committed to having a property under contract by the end of August for Steph's 30 day challenge and I failed. I was damn close but failed nonetheless. I read her blog today and it seems to me that I get a "do over" heehee. I will have AT LEAST one property under contract by the end of September (and for personal reasons will be shooting very hard for 2 under contract).

For the past 2 months I have been trying to determine my target market according to Bob's KISS Flipping program and have failed at that too. I keep going round and round on the mls, researching different counties, trying to find trends and I am just not seeing anything. I'm sure they're THERE right in front of my eyeballs but I'm not connecting the dots, ya know? It's very frustrating for me! I'm going to re-listen to that module and hope something else pops out to me. I feel like I am on the verge of something big and WANT to take that leap! The bootcamp is in 2 weeks and I can't wait! Although I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about the travel part....

Gotta run. Everyone have a great holiday weekend!!