Posted by Stacy (AZ) on April 16, 2000 at 23:47:20:
The preforeclosures I’ve done really have gotten to my heart. There’s a dominant theme of “there before the grace of God go I” in every one of them. These folks have gotten themselves into a jam, and their choices are to allow the foreclosure, or to allow me to come in and stop it. With me they will probably get some money for their home and keep their credit history from showing the long-lasting effects of a foreclosure. Do I help them beyond what the foreclosing lender offers? You better believe it.
Now, just to be completely above board, I agree that there are predatory investors out there. One of my current deals is a preforclosure, and a few days after I started working with the borrowers, they received a letter from a vulture that contained bold-faced lies in an effort to scare the borrowers into selling. I was able to expose the deception for my sellers and ease their minds. But, I’ve never heard such low-handed tactics supported on this newsgroup.
how do you people find the time to invest in real estate?
are you retired? a spouse supports you?, i mean i work full-
time, go to school part-time and i split the time i have left with my family and trying to find another source of income, such as real estate. I have read several
books on real estate including buying tapes and such and i realize that you have to set-up a network of buyers and sellers, extensive advertising that to me seems a bit misleading with all the claims of ‘i buy houses cash’, dangle the carrot in front of a desperate buyer and take
advantage of them. perhaps im sensitive to the sellers
position. dog eat dog world comes to mind…
something that these other posts do not directly address. As one who has been where your at, allow me to reply to what I am hearing:
None of the replies below are incorrect. Candidly, if you read these as a whole, you recognize that the individuals posting on this site ARE NOT the type of individuals you may have run into before.
How serious are you in wanting to become involved in any…I repeat, ANY…type of enterprise? No, I am not trying to back you into a corner. From your post I surmise that you are not afraid of work. If you look at the posts on this board, NONE of them imply a “get rich easy” philosophy. It takes work, sometimes some sweat equity, and for the newbies, disciplining the butterflies in your stomach to fly in formation.
Mostly, however, it takes KNOWLEDGE…lots of it. That is where this board absolutely shines brilliantly in the land of the 'NET. Take a look at some of the posts written by a newbie asking questions. They do not get slammed…they get answers, from people who have done it…who stand to gain NOTHING from that newbie other than the psychic income that comes from being a mentor. Allow me to mentor you, then…
I am going to suggest as a foundation for your career in acquiring wealth that you read four books…and you read them in this order.
a. “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and “The Cashflow Quadrant,” both written by Robert Kiyosaki.
b. Lonnie Scruggs has two books available at this site. Read those as a beginning to how “paper” works. He applies it to “wobbly boxes,” but the financial principals he teaches are priceless.
Lastly, is there anyone else willing to mentor you? Post another question and find out. A little challenge for you there. No guts, no glory, kiddo.
It is all about prioritizing your time. Every human being has 168 hours in a week to do whatever they choose.
If you work 50 hours, go to school and homework 25 hours (very generous), sleep 50 hours (again very generous), you still have 43 hours left to do what you choose with your family or whatever. You may also be able to make productive some of the time you already set aside for work and school. Use your coffee breaks and lunch to your advantage. Most people end up wasting this 1-1.5 hours every day. Commute time also gets wasted. That is another 1-2 hours every day down the drain. You can use this time to listen to RE or positive thinking cassette tapes, practicing presentations, driving neighborhoods, etc.
Maybe use a day planner to better plan your day. Set aside specific time for family and REI. Try to find 8 or so hours a week to put toward RE if you can. 8 hours is only 1 hour a week on weekdays and 3 hours on weekends. Maybe delegate some of the family duties to your wife. Like running errands, buying groceries, etc. If you really want to make things better, you WILL find a way to do it.
I recently bailed out an elderly couple in foreclosure by making them a refi loan at 12% interest. Of course I got an above market rate to compensate for the risk
I took but they also got to save their home of 25 years. They had other lenders who wanted to charge predatory rates but I figured I could sacrifice a few interest rate points, get the deal done and be of some help at the same time.
your sellers situation is worsening. You can sit around being sensitive about their situation and they can go into foreclosure, lose their home to tax sale, or sell to another investor who decides to help them. If you were really being sensitive to the sellers needs you would help them- QUICKLY, before the bank who is not sensitive at all throws them on the street. Just my 2 cents.
I agree with Doug. You are not out to take advantage of others. If you get calls on your “cash” deal and they don’t like what you have, neither one of you aren’t out anything. If you find the deals the money will be found. Don’t wait till you have the funds to do a deal because you will never have the money. Just cover yourself with clauses to get out of the deal if you can’t find the financing. As far as the being too busy part, I too work full time (50+ hrs. week) and I go to school part-time for my masters and I have a family of 4 to support. Including my wife who stays at home with the kids. She is very supportive of my real estate but she doesn’t do any of it. I find the time to get everything done and put my family first. I try to buy at least one property every other month and I also manage duplexes and single family rentals that I own. The question is what are you doing with your time. If you watch TV instead of working on your families future, I know why you don’t have the time. When you do some deals set some money aside and pay someone else to mow your lawn, repair your properties, etc. You make more money with your head than you do with your hands. I enjoy my job otherwise I would be outta there. If you feel that you’r a slave to anything (including real esate) don’t do it. Whatever you do don’t take time away from your family. They need you.
Did you ever hear the saying " If you want something done - give it to the busiest person in the organization".
Its simple really. We do those things that are important to us and we ignore the rest of the stuff.
From your post, your job, school, and your family are most important right now. Nothing wrong with that.
And when you are ready for this thing called real
estate then that will go to the top of your list.
Meanwhile don’t play this “I can’t take advantage of people” routine; it wastes a lot of energy on nothing.
Well I can’t comment on the first part of your post, because I don’t work full-time in the way you mean it.
As for the latter part. CREI isn’t about taking advantage of buyers or sellers. The ‘creative’ part is where you come along and help a seller out of mess and help a buyer get into a home that they otherwise would not be able to.
The objective is not for you to win at the expense of everyone else, you always look for a win-win-win solution. This isn’t just for REI, it’s the same for all of life. You mention your family, how many families do well in which everyone only looks out for themselves?
In short, the reality is that what is in your best interest in the long run is to look out for other people’s interests.