Tim has been asking for months for members to send him success stories. As slow as I type and as horrible as I write I finally wrote one. I hope you read it but I hope more that we show your appreciation for this wonderful site and all the hard work he has done and send him hundreds of new success stories. Come on guys and gals even some of you get out of bed every morning and that in itself is a success story for some. No matter how short or trivial it is still worth sending in. Before you go to sleep tonight write a story and mail it to Tim. What a great site and a great guy.
2 months after taking the paperbiz course, I closed a deal netting me 17K in Myrtle Beach, SC.
I also did a long distance deal Subject to deal in Johnson City, Tenn.
Seller called me asking me to take over his loan as he has been making 2 payments, 1 in NC and other in Tenn.
I had him send me a copy of the warranty deed and mortagge staement. Home was appraised for $150K He owed $107K. I drew up another warranty deed, had him notarize it. He sent it back to me in Chicago and I immediatley placed an ad in teh paper for Johnson City Tenn.
Non Qualifying Home!!!
4bd/3ba 2,500 sq,ft.
$3K down, 1K month
I got 40 calls in one week. The buyer (Jeff Brown) offered to close the deal without me even having to go to Tenn. The seller had left the keys in teh garage. I had my buyer go to the home and pick up the keys. After he saw the home, he wanted it. I drew up another warranty deed over to him and after receiving downpayment I sent him the warranty deed. That was the quickest 3K i have ever made. Up till now, I have never seen that home, buyer, or seller.
I couldve done a lease option and sold it for more, but I had other deals and wanted to get rid of that one fast.
I wrote the other story…“they say it couldn’t be done in the SF Bay area…”. Made $250k on one deal & am on my 3rd now. How do I add 3 houses to me handle?
You have to do more posting. I want a hotel for my 4 houses. I actually had a monopoly on several streets on the east side and even 4 on Lott Ave at one time. I was smiling ear to ear because I was really playing Monopoly for a living, one of my dreams as a kid you know.
Good luck and thank you,
Ted P. Stokely Jr
11505 Sw Oaks
Austin, Texas 78737
512-301-9171 home
512-587-6177 mobile
Would you please post you success story in the success story part of the site too. It was great to hear your story and I am sure others liked it too. Come on other members I know there has to be 100’s of stories out there. Tim and others have worked really hard to get this site to where it is and I would like to show them our appreciation.
Good luck and thank you,
Ted P. Stokely Jr
11505 Sw Oaks
Austin, Texas 78737
512-301-9171 home
512-587-6177 mobile
I know this is a really old thread, but I find stories like this every encouraging as well as extremely helpful. Success stories are actually a great learning tool (at least for me), it really makes an impact to actually see how people take info they’ve learned and use it to make great deals.
I’ll share a few of my stories to get things rolling again. I should note that all of my deals in the past were done without me knowing anything about RE investing at the time, in other words I’ve been extremely fortunate. In fact if a guy like me can earn a few bucks on dumb luck, imagine what you guys can do with education and help from experienced investors.
My first deal was really just my wife and I looking to move from an apartment into a house. We found a home being sold by HUD for 74k, our realtor was very knowledgable of HUDs and he advised us to bid under the asking price (those were the days when you could actually find a deal through HUD). We ended up getting the house for 67k, we lived there for about 3 years and during that time we invested about 20k into improvements and we also took out an equity loan to purchase a couple of vacant lots in Chicago. We eventually sold the house for about 159k, so I guess technically you could say our first deal made us about 72k (minus mortgage and tax payments)
Our second deal was the purchase and selling of vacant land in Chicago. Initially I bought the land with the hopes of building condos as the land was in an up and coming area. However it did’nt take long before I realized that I did’nt have the funds to build anything at that time, so I put the land up for sale and about a month later I received an offer. If I remember correctly the numbers were like this.
For my first “real” investment I earned about 52k in just under a year. Again during this time I did’nt have a shred of REI knowledge, I was very casual about investing and I did’nt really take it seriously until this year. So for you guys out there studying and learning you’re on your way to big profits, I got lucky and made a few dollars but an educated investor can accomplish a lot more.
My third story (or third deal) is actually the last transaction I’ve made a profit on. This one was again made with very little knowledge on my part, but somehow I managed to stumble through the process and earn a few bucks (although much less than my other deals). I found a home on the HUD list for about 35k, it needed only a little work which should have cost me less than 10k. But because my knowledge of REI was virtually non-existent I ended up paying a lot of money to a shady contractor and what should have been a 2 or 3 month investment turned into almost a year of constant arguments with contractors, extra mortgage payments and a lot of headaches. In the end I walked away from the deal with about 25k in profit but also I left that deal with a desire to learn as much as possible about real estate investing so that I would’nt end up in the same position twice.
So those were my first 3 deals, not the greatest I’m sure but I learned a lot and it set the stage for me to do more.
I’m new to this site, but I do have a success story. I’ve got my agent license in NY but never used it. I know alot about the housing market in Staten Island. I noticed this two family listed at 399k and JUMPED on it becuase it appeared to be 100k undervalued. I saw it, it was immaculate. I put in an offer at 390k and signed contracts in 2 weeks. My husband was nervous i moved so quickly.
Sure enough the next month, the listing agent shared with me that seller was approaching foreclosure and they listed it low for a quick sale. I recognized it and now have about 90k in equity in this house.
As a result of this experience I’m now educating myself on investing in foreclosures. I hope to find add’l deal in the future.
Natalie
