Great way to make a TON of money! - Posted by andyofindy

Real Estate Investing
1

Posted by andyofindy on October 09, 2003 at 21:16:10:

Don’t get me wrong, I totally understand and agree with the advice given. I just wanted to know if anyone else had ever done it/thought of doing it, so that when I did gain some experience, I could then give it a shot.

Good luck on your attempts to work into the church community, and please let us know how it goes if/when you have success.

By the way, I didn’t mean to sound irritated, I was just confused about the “blueprint to failure”, or whatever it was, about trying to do deals without experience, money, or credit… but I understand that the point was that it would be a disaster if I attempted to start with churches without getting my feet wet first. That, I agree with!

Take care!

2

Great way to make a TON of money! - Posted by andyofindy

Posted by andyofindy on October 09, 2003 at 13:58:31:

The following idea could be a windfall, plus I’d be helping numerous people in the process, if it’s possible. I need to know if it’s legal, and if so, how best for someone in my situation to get started (little $, bad credit, little experience).

I wondered about the possibility of talking with my church pastor about referring people to me who need out of their house (wholesale flips, preforeclosures, etc.), or who have notes they need cash for, in return for a percentage of my profits.

My idea was to do some sort of 3 month campaign with the church, where I would agree to give 50% of my profit to the church to build up their expense fund, which is $12K to the negative for the year… ouch). Then, I would continue to give 10% of my profits for every additional deal they brought me.

People always talk about wanting to help others, but I really, REALLY do, and what better way than to not only help someone out of a stressful real estate problem (not to mention MY OWN stressful LACK-OF-MONEY-SITUATION), but also help my church as well?!

I thought that maybe any deal I did would have to be done through a land trust that named both the church and myself as beneficiaries.

All advice is welcomed!

By the way, I have little cash, horrible credit, and no real estate investing experience, although I’m familiar with various techniques.

Thanks for your time!

3

Re: Great way to make a TON of money! - Posted by Chris

Posted by Chris on October 10, 2003 at 16:44:55:

Well Bill Shopoff, a guru on the Reitollbelt did just what you suggest. In his tape series he says that he asked a pastor to let his parishners know that he could assist them in owning a home. He also targeted a specific minority group and was able to do 65 deals in 18 months valued in excess of #1M.

4

Re: Great way to make a TON of money! - Posted by Nick

Posted by Nick on October 09, 2003 at 16:45:30:

Maby you could have the preacher devote the entire sermon next Sunday to creative Real Estate and the techniques. That might start the ball rolling.

5

Re: Great way to make a TON of money! - Posted by Brent_IL

Posted by Brent_IL on October 09, 2003 at 15:49:18:

I wonder about the size of your church. Are there many folks that desperately need to get out of their homestead? Are people using the money that they don’t contribute to the expense fund to buy real estate notes?

Here are my thoughts. It may be your desire to help numerous people, but there is an extremely high probability that numerous people will get screwed. Your church unit could fall apart over something like this gone wrong.

After reading about a few creative real estate techniques and never implementing any, you’re offering your services when:

1 - You have no real estate investing experience;

2 - You have no money to give church members that require help;

3 ? You can?t borrow any money to pay for anything at all

This is a blueprint for failure, however altruistic your motives. I don?t know if you can sway church officials with a promise of possible future income. Many members of my church tithe 10% without getting referrals. I?m sure your church leadership will weigh the potential gain against the risk.

While I?m on a roll, I?d like to point out that the subject line of your post was, ?Great way to make a TON of money!? which was then followed by your interest in helping numerous people in the process, (but only?) if it’s possible. To me, this appears to be a creative real estate technique to substitute the church?s credibility for your own reliability. Although you?re familiar with various real estate techniques, in my sole opinion, given that you have little cash, horrible credit, and no real estate investing experience, I think the best course of action that you could take for you, your future in real estate, and the future of your church is to defer your plan until after these conditions have changed substantially.

6

Re: Great way to make a TON of money! - Posted by roger

Posted by roger on October 09, 2003 at 14:31:01:

i’ve worked for the church for 25 1/2 yrs now and this is the problem you or should i say your pastor could face ,1, any info he recieves from a parishioner about family finance or family troubles can be construdeas private and if devulged to someone else can be constude as preach of privatcy.
2, if that happens the person who he devulged info on could go to the bishop and file a complaint asking for his remove from that church and any future congegration would look at him with distrust.
this is just my thought on this. thats why i don’t do it . good luck on your rei’s

7

I knew it could be done! - Posted by andyofindy

Posted by andyofindy on October 10, 2003 at 16:49:29:

Very interesting. Can you tell me how I can find out more about Mr. Shopoff? Of course, I’ll check search engines, but if you have a direct link, I’d love it if you’d email it to me.

Thanks for your time!

8

Re: Great way to make a TON of money! - Posted by andyofindy

Posted by andyofindy on October 09, 2003 at 18:28:01:

Do you think that would work? I didn’t think about that!

Funny…and thanks for the help.

9

Re: Great way to make a TON of money! - Posted by andyofindy

Posted by andyofindy on October 09, 2003 at 18:36:59:

Thanks for the sound advice. Being a newbie, I merely wondered if it was possible/legal, or whatever. If anyone had been successful at this, then it’s something I definitely would have done AFTER gaining experience with individual deals first.

Plus, the title of my post was merely an attention grabber that describes what would result if my idea was feasible.

Your post makes it sound like it’s impossible for someone with little cash and bad credit to succeed in real estate investing. You said…

"After reading about a few creative real estate techniques and never implementing any, you’re offering your services when:

1 - You have no real estate investing experience;

2 - You have no money to give church members that require help;

3 ? You can?t borrow any money to pay for anything at all

This is a blueprint for failure, however altruistic your motives."

I thought people on this board claim that you can use OPM to do real estate deals, and that you should use as LITTLE of your own money (including loans in your name)as possible when first starting out. Am I wrong?

Anyway, I was looking for advice, and your advice seems very solid, and I appreciate your honesty, although I’m confused about the “blueprint to failure” stuff.

Thanks very much for your time.

10

Re: I knew it could be done! - Posted by Chris

Posted by Chris on October 10, 2003 at 17:23:46:

Sorry, The guru is not Bill Shopoff, I got it mixed up. His name is Cunningham I believe. He is a guru on the www.reitoolbelt.com site. He has a series called ‘Keys to the Vault’. I purchased on of his tapes sets and was very impressed.

11

Re: Great way to make a TON of money! - Posted by Brent_IL

Posted by Brent_IL on October 09, 2003 at 23:08:25:

The ?blueprint for failure? comment wasn?t an indictment of low or no money down investing; it referred to my expectations of the success of your plan when your start point was negative.

You aren’t wrong, you can use OPM to do real estate deals, and it?s a sound way to maximize ROI. The challenge presented is that if we don?t know what we?re doing, it?s just as easy to lose someone else?s money as it is to lose our own. Maybe, it?s easier. We can deal with the effect of losing our own cash, but when it?s someone else?s money, the ripple influence is much greater.

When someone from your church comes to you, you will be expected to perform each time; every time. IMNSHO, a major key to long-term real estate investing success is to know what deals to walk away from. You will not have that luxury. One forced deal that fails due to something you?ve missed that would have been known by one with more familiarity with realty can topple the program forever.

Unquestionably, most creative real estate investors will lose money the first time out. This attrition is a given. Sometimes we can luck out. Sometimes we can buy into an appreciating market, so if we learn from our mistakes, our real estate sins are forgiven. This isn?t something that we can count on. It?s a good thing that many of us don?t realize the myriad of things that can go wrong before we start making deals; else, we would hesitate to start.

Why not try birddogging while you continue to study and spread the word about creative real estate solutions to monetary problems? You can donate 50% of the fees that you earn until you have enough experience to start up your program in earnest. Just a thought.

12

Re: Great way to make a TON of money! - Posted by Dick Chelten

Posted by Dick Chelten on October 09, 2003 at 20:11:43:

take a day off and then reread your posting and brent’s. I think 24 hours may allow you to see more objectively.
Unfortunately, too many posters here confuse honest response from experienced investors as personal attacks.
My advice to you is “get over it”. Better to hear the information you need in this forum first so you can consider making adjustments when pitching your deal to real Buyers/Sellers/Investors and Bankers.

My take on your “attention grabber” headline was you didn’t consider the fragile nature of referrals by pillars of a community, especially a religious community. One bad outcome can do more harm than good. Not that you don’t have a good idea. I am attempting to get into the Church comunity now and doing so with an ordained minister who also happens to be a licensed Realtor. It’s a soft, soft sell. Go slowly, with sensitivity. Help people first, and worry about “making a ton of money” later.

13

Re: Great way to make a TON of money! - Posted by andyofindy

Posted by andyofindy on October 09, 2003 at 23:16:31:

I agree with you 100%. As I mentioned a little earlier this evening in my reply to a different person within the same discussion thread, I understand that your point wasn’t that you can’t make $ with other people’s money, it’s that if I try the techniques on church congregations with no prior experience, I’m in for big trouble. And I understand that.

Thanks for your advice, because that’s what I was looking for in the first place… honest opinions by those who know what they’re doing, such as yourself.

I appreciate it.

Take care!