The waiting game is the worst. Thinking and imagining all the things that can go wrong and that have in past deals.
My thoughts go to Nason, the sickly old guy that is existing in this crap hole. Shud I have gave him 20 or a hundred buks? Not to seal this deal but to help this poor guy out. Shud I bring him a puppy and a bag of chow? Or wud the dog be crapping all over creation and making a bad situation worse? Does he need someone to talk to and empathize. Selling this property I hope will get him where his family can patch him up.
I mailed the letter Saturday to the owner on file, named Helen. If she’s dead, then wer talking possible title problems.
Which is my main fear.
In that letter I included the purchase Agreement and a $200 check for earnest. I usually dont do that but I want this deal. I may hav it sold for a 20 frikin grand wholesaling fee.
Will Rand0 crash and burn or with a little compassion and patience, he somehow pulls this deal together?
After a week and a half I get a return envelop with my check and contract unsigned. With a small note that he was the trustee and they had not made a decision.
I was half expecting this deal to go south. But they better do something, old Nason who lives there, sickly, alone, using his fireplace insert to keep warm, and its been cold. Will the old guy last another winter?
Will these people make a decision?
Will Rando bunker down in his northern Idaho cave w Nanuk his faithful moose and give up?
Is there life out there?
The trustee on this deal is named Bart and he’s a man of few words.
Trying not to sound too desperate or boot licking, I wrote up a little letter saying I wanted to buy the house but, I was also concerned about Nason, his health and living conditions, and I asked if he had family that cud check on him.
I put it in a small yellow envelope and mailed it last Saturday.
Now will this help me get this deal by being friendly, helpful and etc? or backfire?
Maybe I shud send a load of firewood to the house. Does he need groceries, I don’t think he’s cooking?
I cud do something. But will I?
Will Rando do nothing and be wracked with gut wrenching guilt?
Will Bart find a higher paying buyer than me?
The truth suks, He probably cud.
It can be profitable to look after the down-and-out. Few will. Even if it it doesn’t result in a purchase, you have done a good thing. Never mind, helping this guy out, will likely make him a loyal fan of yours.
Do it.
Whatever way you can build good will in your farm is good. It can open doors to deals that are closed to anyone else.
I’ve been seeing TV ads for a local real estate wholesaler. He’s a 40 yr old Hispanic guy. He just stands there with a goofy grin and he has this wild and crazy guy asking him questions like, you really buy houses for cash and close in 24 hours? And it don’t matter what condition they are in? He says, yep. The announcer has wild hair and bug eyes, and goes on, wow, that’s incredible. One of his commercials was a ½ hr long and he was also advertising his cell phone shop. These must be costing him a ton of money even though they are not on prime time and on the side channels showing old re runs of gunsmoke and Mister Ed.
I’m also seeing some new people advertising on Craig’s List. I used to get worried especially in the spring when I wud see new bandit signs around town and new ads on CL, sometimes many. Then a few months later the ads wud stop and no more bandit signs. I just wonder what wholesaling course they purchased with some unscrupulous gung ho Guru that told them how easy & fast and profitable wholesaling real estate is?
It’s not a complete lie. There have been times when deals fell in my lap and I wham bammed them so fast it made my toes curl. But then that’s not the norm, other times I had to fight like a dog over a rancid bone and crawl thru mine fields with rabid zombies attacking. The worst is getting almost to the finish line and having the deals explode in my face because of this or that.
Who wud buy the real estate course if the Guru explained to them all the trials and emotional and financial devastation that can happen and most importantly, the insane amount of staying power needed?
Not me, I want it sugar coated with a velvet lining and automated & shiny and easy peazy with a double money back guarantee.
The key I believe is, desperation and mindset. And I need a big dose of that now. Dec, Jan and Feb have always been extremely slow. I’ve had 4 or 5 deals go south lately, Come spring, I’m ready to crawl out of my cave, scrape off the barnacles and do something. Or I cud be a greeter at Walmart.
Congrats on your success! You’re an inspiration.
My buddy Ken smokes ciggs like a mad man. He looks like hell. When we wer younger and room mates his VW wudnt start so we wer trying to bump start it and half way down the street we both completely collapsed from exhaustion and trying to catch our breath, he pulls out a cigg and lights it.
Now 50 yrs later he’s still choking on them, he claims to have cut down, but that’s probably cuz each cigg cost somewhere around 50 cents or 10 buks a pack. He borrowed a hundred buks from me a few yrs ago and seems to have forgotten about it, and then asked to borrow $1,500 last month and said he wud make payments to me and oh yea, I believe that.
So this week I offered to take out a life insurance policy on him and I wud pay all the monthly fees and give him a carton of Marlboro to seal the deal.
I don’t know why that pissed him off, but it sure did. He aint talking to me anymore. Refusing his request for $1500 didnt make him mad, but this did.
I luv the guy and why shudn’t somebody profit from his death? Maybe I shuda offered 2 cartons.
He’s still in the game. One of the bird dogs I tried to recruit a few yrs ago named Sam emailed me out of the blue yesterday.
He has a 1400 SF Mobile home on 1.3 acres up in the mountains. Its in a gorgeous town called Coarsegold on the way to Yosemite. Zillow shows the value at 220K & he has it on contract for 110.
Mobile homes didnt use to excite me at all, till I did one.
And this one is a big double wide with a pitched roof and asphalt roof shingles & sitting on a concrete foundation with a 2 car garage next to it.
But this bad puppy needs a full rehab, 30-40K might get it rentable. Sam is getting photos this weekend.
I might have to cancel my hibernation. I’m thinking this might sell to a hungry buyer for 140-150K
Sam is asking for 50% I luv these kind of deals. Now if only Sam and I can pull it off.
Will Rando emerge from his comatose hibernation with any brain cells functioning? Can he pull it together?
Will he be able to keep the internet on?
I’m tempted to meet Sam up at the property this weekend. It wud only take an hour drive and probably less than 10 buks of gas in my Accord. I’m getting more excited as I look at the photos on Zillow. The mobile has big picture windows and a huge deck and some awesome views of the surrounding hills. It wud be bad ass to get some drone footage.
The description of the property on Zillow was really interesting, saying a hoarder lived there and the mobile is a tear down and sold for property value only. Zillow shows about a doz photos of the exterior of the house and the yard with gorgeous oak trees and a circular gravel driveway.
The exterior has wood siding and looks ragged in spots but as a former carpenter I know how easy it is to replace siding and they are only 30 buks a sheet or less. Sam says the house needs floor repair and carpets and paint and I’m guessing a lot more than that.
I wud luv to own this place and get out of this concrete tweaker jungle, but then, the nearest Walmart is 30 miles.
I’m writing up a simple partnership agreement with Sam stating we agree to co-wholesale this property and split profits 50/50 and we acknowledge this is a legal and binding agreement. Which we will both sign and date.
OK so now what cud go wrong? Probably everything and then some. But at least it’s fun.
I was getting a bit worried, the finder Sam had not replied to my email asking him to sign the partnership agreement and to send photos. Finally this morning the signed contract arrives with a dozen photos. I’ve already sent the property out to my 2 fav buyers and got an ad started on Craig’s List. Price on CL is 149,500 and I sent it to my 2 buyers for 140.
Looks like since the photos were taken and posted on Zillow the deck has been removed and a funky step was put up.
I think the deck was probably rotted and burned in the wood stove.
I also learned that my finder Sam was not a bird dog I recruited but had actually contacted me from this REI site.
I’ve done a few other joint venture deals from readers contacting me from this site.
Anyways, the interior of the mobile home does not look bad at all, I was expecting the worse condition imaginable because of the description on Zillow stating it was inhabited by a hoarder and was a teardown. But it looks like a stable structure and looks quite live-able, especially for an old okie like me.
Scientists have discovered an unimaginable amount of microbial life deep below our planets surface with an estimated combined weight much more than all the biological and plant life on the surface, what the heck are they eating? They don’t need photosynthesis to survive? Does this suggest that life is abundant throughout the Universe?
Also, drilled core sample show there have been 7 mini ice ages in the last 100,000 years, what’s that, about every 15 or 16,000 years? Does that suggest some orbiting body enters our solar system regularly to cause this phenomenon?
Will Rando and Sam sell this mountain retreat fixer and make some desperately needed profits?
I sent this property out to a bunch of my contacts. I waited all day and no calls, no emails, no txts, no nothin.
I like it when I can sell these fixers in 2 hrs, but not today.
Finally at almost 9 PM while I was chowing on a few chocolate chip cookies and a cup of eggnog, my wild and crazy wholesaling buddy Alan calls. He wants to know if I’ve got any offers, I say no, I just got the property this morning, Then he wants to know if I can do better on the price, I ask him if he can do 130. He says what kink of condition is it in, I tell him its in surprisingly good condition and he shud go look at it. Then shortly later he txts me and wants to know about the well. I tell him it is community water.
Then he txts for me to send the assignment of contract for 130. I txt back that I wud do it, but I better check with my partner Sam. Now I’m waiting to hear back from Sam.
Will Rando and Sam in desperation grab the first offer that comes in and take the fast 10 grand each and run?
Or will they try to get a meatier bone and risk it all?
My wholesaling buddy Alan and the Investor Dean, he’s the one that said he had hungry hippo buyers, want this mountain property at 130K. They must have a hungry buyer lined up.
My partner Sam is probably not as desperate as me, he has a full time job, he has agreed to sell for the fast wham bam price of 130K
Alan is asking for the assignment of contract, Sam just sent me the signed purchase contract, and I’m putting it all together. Will this deal really go down? Will Rando be able to keep the internet and lights on?
I sent the purchase contract and the assignment to our buyers Alan and Dean this morning.
Now Alan is asking to do a walk thru and inspection today and now Sam tells me our seller James has left town for a few days visiting relatives for Xmas.
Sam tells me the place is locked up so tight that even the mice can’t get in.
Will Rando and Sam be able to keep this deal on track?
Will there be a joyous outcome or will Rando and Sam be crying in their beer and singing the blues?
I got the seller James and our buyer Alan coordinated to meet tomorrow at 10 am for the inspection walk thru.
Alan seems ready to jump on this.
Everything can still go so wrong here and yet everything can go so right.
There is only one thing to do now, nothing.
Yesterday was wild. Sam started emailing mid morning and asking if Alan was going to be there, then Alan was emailing and txting to make sure the 1 PM appointment was happening. Earlier Alan had sent me the signed Assignment of Contract for 20 Grand, and he’s starting Escrow Monday, yea baby.
Then by early afternoon Sam was asking if Alan made it to the property, and then he txts back that he talked to seller and they indeed had all met & did their walkthrough stuff.
It’s always scary and risky to put a buyer and seller together b4 closing even though we have signed contracts with seller and buyer.
But now it gets more wild.
Sam had been txting me for awhile mid afternoon, but my buddy David an I were out in the man cave (the garage) smoking one, then Sam calls , and I answer, he seems a bit frazzled and he tells me the seller is asking him some, OMG in ur face questions like, are you wholesaling this? are you the one that’s buying it?
Oh crap, In my stoned stuper, I tell him, well hell Sam, let’s go with the truth, we got him on contract.
I then said, tell him that Alan has a cash buyer and that shud shut him up.
Then Sam wants to know the name of Title company, I told him Baringer, and then he comes back with he cant find it online, Alan tells me its in LA and I shuda spelled it with 2 rs. I’m thinking, sounds squirrely, but wer good as long as their not based out of Nigeria.
Then things get more wild.
Alan txts me that he wants another inspection tomorrow. Oh man, it seems he has another prospective buyer. Now is it ethical to not tell our seller that not only are we wholesaling your house, but it’s going thru 3, count em wholesalers. First there is Sam, then me and Alan. It’s not a record cuz I once did a deal w 5 wholesalers in the mix.
Anyways, then seller wants us to wait till morning to give us a time to meet. Sam is txting wanting to know if Alan has a lock box we can use, Alan says he has one shud he bring it? then Sam comes back with, seller wants to hold off on the lockbox cuz he’s worried bout liability issues. My phone was overheating from all the txts.
Sam is now asking if Alans buyer is a sure thing. I laughed and told him, nothings for sure in this business. But if Alan and his buyer are doing a 1 hour drive to this property, it sounds pretty friking serious to me. He said ok.
This is the only excitement I’ve had for awhile.
Will Rando and Sam and Alan pull this off b4 seller goes ballistic?
My finder and partner Sam is driving me up the wall. Countless txts. He txts that Alan didnt make it to the appointment with seller and it was other people there and we had agreed that Alan wud be there. I replied back, Alan already seen it, he don’t have to be there. Then he’s txting asking if I can contact Alan and see what’s happening. I replied back, I know exactly what Alan is doing, he’s trying to find us a buyer.
Then he txts back and says, I partnered with you and you said Alan was a buyer and wat if he don’t find one. I reply again. Let’s give him 2 weeks and then we go to seller for a price reduction and if he won’t, then we tell him , good luck.
Then he wants to know again if escrow was started. Then he sends me a photo of an ad that Alan is selling his house.
I explained over the phone that I sent this out to every investor I know and I put an ad in Craig’s list and nobody wants it except Alan and Dean. I told him to chill.
Sam says he’s done a bunch of RE deals virtually but I was thinking, he’s a high strung newbie and I’m avoiding the phone. He did say he had an offer for 113 he might take, That’s only 1500 each if he remembers he signed a partnership agreement.
It looks like this deal is out the window, it was fun and games till Sam started badgering me. He seems to blame me for this deal not going down fast enuf for his liking. I’m gonna have to lay this fact on him. The price is to high pilgrim, for a mobile, get your whiny ass over to seller and get a reduction in price, if not, I can go back to hibernating.
It’s difficult to go back into hibernation cuz its 64 degrees with sun shining and blue skies here in Central Cal.
I only got a few txts from my partner Sam asking if we cud lower price to 120K. I told him yea.
So I lowered the price on Craig’s List this morning to $129,500 Or Best offer. The winter months of Dec Jan and Feb are always slower than a cop leaving the donut shop. But with weather like this, maybe somebody will be motivated to do some real estate.
I’ll be at the river with my drone and my 1 yr old German Shepard puppy Rambo. He’s all black with brown legs big and scary lookin and playful at 70 pounds and out of control. With the remote shock collar I only have to hit the warning beep and he stops fast, no more jumping on people and terrorizing the little dog. I got him a nice dog house with a warming mat for these cold nights, but my back yard is destroyed, what the hell was I thinking?
My buddy Jim came over today and we smoked a big one an was watching some of our go pro river and lake kayaking videos. He was impressed, the video quality and colors etc of these little GoPro’s 5 cameras is awesome. But the video is jerky and not always smooth. But now I’m looking at the new GOPRO 8 with hyper smooth stabilization and more of this and more of that, it’s what I’m drooling over now.
Anyways Jim asked if I knew of any house for sale cuz his friends are moving here from Oraville. I told him this Coarsegold mobile fixer is all. Then I went on an on and told him how bad ass it is and told him if he gets his friends to buy it, we pay a 2k finders fee.
In our stoned stuper I asked what he wud do with 2 grand. Oh crap, new exhaust for his vintage pickup he’s restoring and new tires and I forgot what else. The 2 grand was already spent.
then later he calls and says his friends want it. And soon they began txting me wanting a Tuesday after noon view.
I’ll just get that new GOPRO8 and hope for the best.
My new GoPro 8 with Hyper Smoothing Image stabilization with Turbo Boost (Come to daddy) arrives this Thursday.
My buddy Jim called wanting to know if his friends Jack and Kaye called me about the mountain mobile. I tell him, heck yea, we been txting, I sent photos, they really interested and are driving down this Tuesday for a looksie.
Then Jim wants to know if I’m going to meet them there, I said no, I’ll have the seller meet them and open it up and give them the grand tour. Then we go on about this and that, Jim knows how to talk and after 20 minutes I tell him, oh man, my corn bread is cookin and I gotta go.
Now if we can pull this deal together we all make a good chunk of change, seller gets what he wanted, Jim and I and Sam cash out and the buyers are overjoyed with their purchase.
Jim says the buyer is his buddy from High School so the guy has to be as old as the hills.
How crazy is it to hookup with an old buddy U found on Face Book, and he brings you a buyer on a house that was just sittin there w nobody wanting it within a hundred miles and going out the window fast??
I’m too excited to hibernate.