My story of inspiration - Posted by Matt B

Posted by Sandy FL on October 23, 1998 at 08:59:43:

Hey, even though it might have seemed like a crappy job at the time, it helped you with your real estate…My friend that worked for Kirby, I can’t believe how many $1800 vacuum cleaners he got sold (and to people who could not afford them). Their sales techniques must be first rate. Problem was, collecting the commission checks. (Another story)

Anyway, thanks for confirming what I suspected. I don’t want to work for Kirby, so please, come to the creol chat room some evening and teach us those Kirby’s sales techniques. I, for one, am very interested!

Sandy FL :slight_smile:

My story of inspiration - Posted by Matt B

Posted by Matt B on October 22, 1998 at 05:37:45:

After getting engaged about 2 months ago, I realized that I would like to buy a house some time in the future for my new family. I have had terrible credit for a few years now due to poor money management and reacting poorly to situations that life has given me despite being an intelligent person. I did some searching on the internet to find a site that could give me “creative” ways of buying real estate so that I could find a way to buy a house for myself eventually. That search led me here. I read through all the how-to articles, money ideas, and success stories. I became excited after reading the articles by Lonnie Scruggs, but I was very skeptical as well. I have been scammed before, a few more times than I care to recall, looking for the solution to my financial problems, and have learned that there are way too many people who love to prey on those of us in a desperate situation. However, at the same time, I saw that so much of this information was free, and even though various courses were for sale, there was a wealth of detailed, in-depth information at no cost. I took Lonnie’s advice and purchased “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and things changed completely since then. I then went on to scrape together the money for Lonnie’s course and read every little detail. I have been living from paycheck to paycheck for as long as I can remember, and even after getting a new job at $10,000 more a year, would still be bouncing a check or 2 right before payday. I took the principles of those books to heart, and all of a sudden, somehow produced $1,600 after about 3 weeks that I turned into $1,900 on the stock market. (I know that isn’t related to real estate, but it relates to the lifestyle change that produced my real estate success.)I started advertising in the newspaper that I had mobile homes for sale that I would finance and got about 35 calls. Still, there was just a little bit of me thinking, “Am I wasting my time? I have been scammed so many times before by being made to feel excited about something and ended up even more poor.” I found mobile home after mobile home with all the right qualifications, but I was still doubtful. I went to see a few places, talked to potential buyers, found mobile home note buyers, but I was still hesitant. I slowly crawled along until a bolt of lightning finally hit me in the butt! I responded to an ad for a mobile that said “was asking $3,000 or best offer, will take $1,500 firm”. Gee, I wonder if anyone on this board would call an ad like that? I called and said “Hi, I’m calling about the mobile home you have for sale” and the woman on the other end talked for 15 minutes straight! Without ANOTHER WORD from me she lowered her price to $700!! The problem was that it had to be moved and had a a bad hitch. I had 3 buyers who wanted homes that they could move to their own land, so that problem was solved. Since this woman wanted to sell because she had moved out and was paying lot rent AND her new mortgage, she agreed to pay for the new hitch. I called my buyer, she looked, filled out a credit app, and wrote out a check for a $400 down payment on her new $4,000 mobile home! Can someone tell me what a $3,300 return on a $300 investment over 26 months yields? My calculator just spit out some kind of black sludge.
I cannot thank the helpful people that I found on this board enough. I have always assumed that “investing” of any sort was for the people who had plenty of money to start out with. I really could go on and on with more details, but I’ve taken up enough space. Thanks everyone. I’m “on to the next one.”

Great job! - Posted by Marvin C. Ellis

Posted by Marvin C. Ellis on October 22, 1998 at 18:17:24:

Great going Matt! Perhaps your biggest accomplishment here was overcoming your past experiences, fears, and reactions. Change the way you think and act and you change your life forever. You may want to check out the classic, Think and grow rich by Napoleon Hill. Another worthy $20 investment. Great going! All the best to you!

Re: My story of inspiration - Posted by Javier

Posted by Javier on October 22, 1998 at 15:48:06:

Wow, Matt, That is great… I am a newbie…and stories like yours push everybody out to the field to do deals…COngratulations…and see? can you read all of the people happy about it? isn’t it amazing? I used this place to get motivated as well as to get valuable info.

Felicitaciones!

Javier

Re: Way to go, Matt! - Posted by Lonnie

Posted by Lonnie on October 22, 1998 at 15:35:32:

Hi Matt,

I posted this before but guess it went to cyber-space heaven. Congratulations on your super deal. When you decided to take action, you got good results. Now, keep up the good work and do another one

Good luck and best wishes,

Lonnie

PS Your yield is “good enough”.

Re: My story of inspiration - Posted by JPiper

Posted by JPiper on October 22, 1998 at 14:19:10:

Matt:

What a great story?.it?s exciting to read about your success even for us veterans.

What I would do now is reflect on all the things you did right here. I know you?ve made some mistakes in the past, and from your post you evidently have thought about them. So give the same opportunity now for the things you did right.

In case you?re not fully aware (I bet you are) let me mention a few of them. First you took a VERY small risk by reading a book. Worst case scenario, you lose a little time and under $20. Most of us could live with that. Next, you implement some of the thoughts in the book, and begin to save some money. Now you buy another book, slightly more expensive, but still a VERY small risk. To do this you have to deal with fears created by past mistakes. This is a very important lesson. We all have fears. But we can acknowledge the fears, and move forward anyway. This was a great accomplishment on your part. Now you take another step, called doing your homework. You call ads. And guess what? You found a motivated buyer, and allowed them to talk themselves down in price. Terrific!! It takes some people years to learn to listen. You had a buyer who takes most of your cash out of the deal?.another low risk. These are just a few of the ?right? things you did.

Congratulations!! Think long and hard about all your right moves. All you have to do now is do the same things over again. Small risks, large rewards, move through your fears, build your knowledge?.you?re on the path!!

JPiper

Excellent job - Excellent yield too! - Posted by Mr Donald (NORVA)

Posted by Mr Donald (NORVA) on October 22, 1998 at 11:21:00:

$3,300 return on a $300 investment over 26 months?

For this compound interest calculation, I’d try the following…

PV = $300
FV = $3,600 ($300 original+$3,300 return)
N = 26 months

Make sure PMT = 0 since this is a compound calculation, NOT an annuity.

Compute the MONTHLY interest as 10.03% per MONTH, which yields a usurious ANNUAL return of 120.35%!

N=1 FV=330.08

N=6 FV=532.31

N=12 FV=944.51

N=18 FV-1,675.89

N=24 FV=2,973.89

N=26 FV=3,600.00

Very interesting ROI indeed!

Now as for what the buyer will be paying you over 26 months…

Let’s use the current “Standard” interest rate on mobile home notes, 12.75% per annum, that you should use on your note.

(Personally, I’m waiting for that moment in history when it is finally announced: the Lonnie index - the mobile home note rate daily standard set by Lonnie and quoted by financial indices and journals across America. Hmmm… but I digress here.)

N = 26 months
I = 1.0675% monthly (12.75% annual)
PV= $3,600
FV= 0

I calculate a monthly payment of $159.20, for a total of $4,139.08 in payments, and interest payments of $539.08 over the term of the note.

What a great deal - any way you look at it! I’m glad you realised that all you have to do is just get out there and do it. Everything will just fall into place if you just keep at it - and you have!

Mr Donald.

Very Inspirational - Posted by Shay

Posted by Shay on October 22, 1998 at 10:24:31:

Thanks for being so candid. Your story was very inspirational, I pray all goes well!

You Go Boy ! - Posted by Sandy FL

Posted by Sandy FL on October 22, 1998 at 09:49:00:

Way to go Matt! It takes alot of courage to share
your former mistakes with us, and we are all proud of
you. Hope to see more success stories soon.

Sandy FL

Congratulations. - Posted by Andrew Smith (Phila)

Posted by Andrew Smith (Phila) on October 22, 1998 at 07:28:29:

It was great to read of your start in what will hopefully be a long and successful real estate career. Good luck in your future ventures.

Re: My story of inspiration - Posted by John(MA)

Posted by John(MA) on October 22, 1998 at 07:15:54:

Yea Matt, go get em. Congrats on your new found wealth.
NOW, focus and while the iron is hot strike again and
again. Keep the process moving and repeat,repeat,repeat.
Man O man does it make us out here feel good about your
success…GO MATTY

John (MA)

Re: Reflecting - Posted by Matt B

Posted by Matt B on October 22, 1998 at 14:34:32:

Thanks for the advice. I will certainly give this matter a lot of thought seeing how it is the one thing that has turned out in a positive manner for me. I have had some really good sales training from a past job that taught me the art of how to “shut up and listen” (Ever try to sell a $1,600 vacuum cleaner without knowing how the person wants you to sell it to them?) Lonnie’s books were extremely good at drilling home key points like this. Believe me, if saying only one sentence and shutting up can earn me $800, (asking price of $1,500 reduced to $700 in the course of the “conversation”) I will repeat that process!
I wanted to make sure that all the pieces fit for my first deal, and, honestly, would probably still be sitting on my butt, making a call here and there, if this particular deal did not come along. The funny thing is that now, when I look at the extensive notes that I’ve been keeping on buyers and sellers, I see a few more opportunities that can be turned into a deal like this! Guess what I’ll be doing this weekend? (Hint: it involves making money.)

Re: Excellent job - Excellent yield too! - Posted by Dirk Roach

Posted by Dirk Roach on October 22, 1998 at 16:35:18:

LOL!!! I love it the Lonnie Index! What a great idea. Congrats Matt, that was slam dunk!

Kirby Vacuums? - Posted by Sandy FL

Posted by Sandy FL on October 22, 1998 at 15:33:11:

Oh man… I knew exactly what you were talking about
there. I had a friend who sold for them once. What a
terrible job but great learning experience. And the
buyers made *payments too. Anyone want to buy some
defaulted vacuum paper??

Re: Kirby Vacuums? - Posted by Matt B

Posted by Matt B on October 23, 1998 at 05:32:59:

Yes! Kirby sweepers! I can honestly say that it was an extremely educational job, if not financially rewarding. However, now that I think about it, that’s one of the concepts in Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Work to learn, don’t work for money. (Of course actually making money while I was learning these valuable sales techniques would have been awefully nice.) Any time after that experience that I deal with any type of sales person, I see exactly what sales technique they are using. I even used that education when I was joining a gym the other day. The sales person sat me down, and drew 2 intersecting lines on a piece of paper to show the different payment plans. I had to cover my mouth to prevent myself from bursting out laughing… I remember drawing those same lines when it came to financing those darned Kirbys! Anyway, it turns out that after he presented the three payment plans, but they “just didn’t fit my budget” and I got up to leave, he suddenly “remembered” the payment plan that they just started! (This was the manager of the place, so I had an even harder time containing my laughter.) In the end, I paid 25% of what they had quoted originally for the membership. I highly recommend anyone with plenty of savings and time to go get a job for even a month or two selling Kirbys. I have not run across a sales technique yet that I wasn’t taught while selling them. Or at least invite one of the salesman to come give you a “demo”. Then just sit back and think about every action that they do and thing they say. I learned that from the moment a person answers the door, you start selling. When you step inside the house you start scanning the room and say, “Wow, when did you get this? I love bowling!” when you see their bowling trophy. Then you become their friend, and just go comparison shopping with them. Wouldn’t you buy something your friend recommends?
Well, I went a bit long there, but all of the stuff I learned there and shared here can be applied to real estate, can’t it?