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So it’s been quite the busy/productive December so far over here at Flip This Wholesaler HQ.
I managed to put a deal together last week with one of my wholesaler buddies (W00t!). It’s not a home run by any means, but I only have an hour or so into the deal and I’m making a few grand, so I’m happy. I ended up bringing the buyer to the table on this one. I’ll give you three guesses how this buyer found out about the deal….
#1) Handwritten Sign
#2) Handwritten Sign
#3) Handwritten Sign
If you guessed handwritten sign, you would be correct.
I actually have a picture of the exact sign that my buyer saw- she pointed it out to me as we were on our way out of the neighborhood to go to Amscot and make copies of the contract and deposit.
Here it is…..
I wasn’t even going to put any signs out at all for this property, as it is priced a little high for the area, and I figured it would be a waste of time. Turns out this lady was the only phone call that came in from this batch of signs, and she ended up buying the deal. Nice. She’s also looking to pick up another property in the area ASAP, so I’m on a mission to find her another one before the year is up.
This deal is supposed to close next week, and the bank is actually using a local title company that doesn’t suck, so we won’t have to deal with the hacks over at Watson title. So that’s a good thing.
What else?
I got two really nice counter offers Friday afternoon from REOs that I offered on earlier in the week. I’m going to counter back first thing this morning and hope that I get at least one of them under contract before someone else beats me to the punch…
As I mentioned in a prior post, I set a goal of finding 20 new buyers to add my list, and I accomplished that over the weekend (woohoo!), so now I’m just going to hit up the MLS and start making offers like a crazy person. There are still almost 4 weeks left in 2009, and I plan on taking full advantage of every single day. And then I am going to CRUSH 2010.
Speaking of crushing it, I’ve been kicking some serious ass in the gym as well. I’m sticking to my goal of running 84 miles before I go up North for Christmas. Yesterday was day #9 that I’ve ran 3.5 miles, which brings my total to 31.5 miles. 9 down, 15 to go! I’ve been marking my calendar with a big red dot every day when I get back from my run. It helps keep me motivated. Check it out….
December is going to be one red hot mess when I get finished with it. Hehe.
Other than that, I’ve been spending a lot of time working on my goals for 2010. Yesterday I spent about four hours making a “Mind Movie”, which is something that’s been on my to-do list for about 6 months now. I already have a vision board, and a list of positive affirmations that I go through every morning and night. A Mind Movie basically combines all of them together into a slide show of what your perfect life looks like. Pretty cool if you’re into that kind of stuff. I created mine for free using Windows Movie Maker, but actually hijacked the idea from a Mind Movies product that I stumbled on while I was surfing the net…
So, anywho, that’s what I’ve been up to.
Hope you all have a fantastic week!
Later Alligators.
P.S.
I got an email over the weekend from a girl who bought my Flip This REO! eBook and just closed her first deal . She’s been working her ass off for the last 2 months and just made $7300! Woohoo- congrats Meghan!!
P.P.S.
If you have a success story you’d like to share (doesn’t have to be from an REO deal), please send it my way. I’m going to be adding a “Success Stories” section to the blog soon and I’d love to have yours to add to it.



On December 07, 2009 at 12:47pm, ERBY said...
Congrats on your deal! The road to success have a lot of pot holes,bumps and detours but if we stay on that road no matter what we will eventually arrive. Stay Focus!
.-= ERBY´s last blog ..3/1 Landlord Special Available! (((30K!!!))) =-.
On December 07, 2009 at 12:52pm, Stephani said...
Amen Erby!
Focus, focus, focus.
Hope you are kicking butt over there.
On December 07, 2009 at 1:01pm, nemi said...
Hey Steph,
Many congrats on your success through the years!!! I’ve been reading your blog for weeks now (every post) & feel as though I have a mentor (who I’ve yet to speak with…). I’m really learning a lot and have FINALLY made a committment to get into REI by way of wholesaling first. I’m pretty stoked about it!
I’ve begun the journey of building a team, starting w/ finding a realtor and title company in my area and have received interesting responses when I ask them questions. Question to you: How might I make multiple offers off of one earnest deposit, i.e. one $500 check? I’ve done the search to find the post where you may have talked about this but can’t. Plus I wanted to go ahead and take the step of participating in the many forums & blogs that exist. I am nowhere near shy, so I don’t know why I haven’t yet.
Thanks so much for being generous with your knowledge & experiences…that’s truly indicative of someone with very high self-esteem.
On December 07, 2009 at 1:20pm, Stephani said...
Hi Nemi- glad to have you here!
You definitely will want to get involved on the Flippinghomes.com and BiggerPockets.com forums (there are links over on the side). There is so much info there to learn from, and so many knowledgeable people willing to help out. I got through my first few deals by posting questions on the Flippinghomes forum, and I will be forever grateful to all of those who helped me out along the way…
To answer your question, if you are going after REOs, they don’t usually cash your check until after an offer is accepted, so you don’t actually have to come up with a deposit for every offer you make. You can also write into the contract something along the lines of….. “Earnest money to be deposited upon acceptance and ratification of offer.” That way you don’t have to worry about coughing up a deposit for each one.
Some banks, however will require you to provide a copy of the earnest check in certified funds when you make your initial offer, and there’s not too much you can do about that.
If you decide to pursue non REO properties, you can get away with a small earnest amount (I never put down more than 10 bucks when I was targeting private sellers). So that’s something you might want to consider as well.
Hope that helps.
Thanks again for stopping by!
On December 07, 2009 at 3:06pm, Shae said...
Get it, girl! That’s really exciting news about Meghan too! Awesome
.-= Shae´s last blog ..For all of you book lovers! =-.
On December 07, 2009 at 3:20pm, Chad said...
Sup Steph,
I think I know the answer to this, so I need you to tell me if I’m right or wrong. How did you get 20 new buyers over the weekend? My first thought is that you called “For Sale” signs and called the recent cash buyers you found on the MLS. Am I right?
On December 07, 2009 at 4:11pm, Stephani said...
Hi Chad,
It wasn’t just over the weekend that I found the buyers, it’s been a few weeks now…
Most of them have been a result of the signs I have out, and also calling “For Rent” signs. It’s not hard to rack up buyers pretty quickly if you are doing a lot of marketing and making a lot of phone calls. It’s a pain in the ass, but it pays off.
On December 07, 2009 at 6:43pm, Scott said...
Steph.
Way to kick butt working out. Im finally getting back after getting my appendix out. Im suppose to wait another 2 weeks but I feel good. Going to the gym is really important to me and makes me 100 times more productive. Keeps the blood flowing and you have a ton of energy! Also makes you feel good about yourself and gives you confidence. I feel like I can do anything when I’m in good shape. Keep up the good work in the gym! You dont have anything if you dont have your health.
On December 07, 2009 at 7:10pm, Stephani said...
Hey Scott-
Yeah, I totally agree with you- I am so much more productive and confident when I am hitting the gym and running regularly. My back was really bothering me for the last several months, so I wasn’t able to run, and I really felt like crap. It’s good to be back.
Glad you are feeling better after your surgery, but you might want to heed the docs advice and wait a little longer…
Nice to hear from you.
On December 07, 2009 at 10:43pm, Josh said...
I went to a seminar this weekend where the man was talking about how he knows of a company that scans and produces hand written signs so that you dont have to write on each one. You had to buy his course to find out who the company is that does it. I wanted to know do you hand write all of your signs or do you pay for a similar service that scans them and reproduces the signs for you?
On December 08, 2009 at 5:41am, Stephani said...
Hi Josh,
That’s funny (not really) that they wouldn’t give you the company info unless you bought the course. Which seminar was it?
I don’t know of any companies who do that, but if you find out let me know.
You can always hire someone to write them up for you- a college or high school kid, or maybe a retiree looking for some extra cash. Put an ad on Craigslist and your phone will probably ring off the hook.
Steph
On December 08, 2009 at 11:55am, Kelly Miller said...
Go red dots!!! Kickin’ butt! I’m gonna try that movie thing!
On December 08, 2009 at 2:09pm, Stephani said...
Hi Kelly!
Its pretty cool, and easy to do if you know how to use Windows Movie Maker (or other Movie Making programs).
Let me know how it turns out if you do it.
On December 08, 2009 at 4:18pm, Josh said...
Kirk Kirshner was the speaker. His course was actually a good course, and I considered buying it but I only needed a few bits of information in it and so it wasnt worth the $1,000 to me. If I hadnt recently gotten another course that I study I probably would have bought it. Anyhow there were a few people who I networked with at the event who bought it, and I will see if I can get that info out of them. As soon as I find out who this company is I will pass on the info.
On December 08, 2009 at 4:57pm, Stephani said...
Yes, please keep me posted, Josh- I’d like to see what they look like.
On December 08, 2009 at 4:22pm, Josh said...
Hey Steph on a side note do you have a physical fax machine and fax line in your home office or do you use some type of efax service? If you use an efax service and you are happy with them can you let me know what you use?
On December 08, 2009 at 5:05pm, Stephani said...
I use a service called MongoFax: https://www.mongoscan.com/V14/ECPForm.mongo
It’s pretty cool- you fill out a cover sheet with the email address of where you want your documents to go, and then it scans and emails everything for you.
I don’t pay anything for it- one of my Realtor friends lets me use their acct. I think the Realtors get it for free. Before that I was scanning and emailing everything, and before that I was faxing all of my offers.
I don’t recommend faxing your offers- most of the agents get annoyed when you do that. Just an FYI.
On December 09, 2009 at 12:24am, Taylor said...
Mind movies are cool. I have a perpetual project going with windows movie maker myself. Stumbled onto the video online about 4 months ago and started collecting the pictures and music, just never took the time to finish.
Oh, I’ve got a book for you… “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield. Amazing book about conquering resistance and moving from ametur to Pro. It’s aimed at the creative arts community (writers mostly) but it has become my most referred to and most referred book in my library. Read it, love it, live it.
Cheers,
Taylor
.-= Taylor´s last blog ..Tommy and the Christmas Train House =-.
On December 09, 2009 at 4:24am, Stephani said...
Hola Taylor!
Thanks for the book recommendation- I’ll have to check it out. Literally. Hehe.
You should finish off your mind movie so you have it all set and ready to go for the coming year.
Hope you are doing well,
Steph
P.S.
Happy Belated B-Day!
On December 09, 2009 at 4:39pm, scott said...
Just curious. All these signs that you put out. Do you eventally pick them up or do they all just magically disappear.
On December 09, 2009 at 4:54pm, Stephani said...
Hi Scott,
They disappear within a few days, usually.
On January 07, 2010 at 1:04am, Tony Zamberlin said...
Steph,
Thanks for telling me how to do the signs!! Works great! I use 18×24’s, but have 3 properties im marketing right now and got a cash offer from one “way too low though” lol
and have another coming in tomorrow supposedly, he he! on a duplex…. I get these suckers for 1.75 a sign handwritten plain white including the stakes, so if any of you guys reading this are in the upstate of sc. let me know and i’ll set u up with my sign girl!
On January 07, 2010 at 1:05am, Tony Zamberlin said...
Steph,
do u still just do reo’s or do u sell other wholesalers stuff at a markup and do seller marketing as well??
On March 11, 2010 at 10:12am, Drew Lemoine said...
Hi Steph…first things first…I am a big time fan of yours and I only discovered this blog last week!
Believe it or not you inspired me to get into this.
So far I’m taking baby steps and building my buyers list and stumbled upon a cash buyer that wants 3/2’s no pool upto 100k anywhere in hillsborough county and wants to buy 2 houses a month if I can find them. Pleeeeease Steph I need your help! Can we split these JV deals? PRETTY PLEASE? Lol if not its ok I understand.
On March 12, 2010 at 5:43pm, Stephani said...
Hi Drew,
Welcome to the blog!
I’ll definitely keep you in mind if I get anything that fits your buyer’s criteria.
Keep up the good work.
On September 25, 2010 at 4:53pm, Alan said...
Hi Steph, I have heard that you should get a list of cash buyers first and then find out what kind of properties and locations they are interested in and then find motivated sellers meeting those criteria (then get homes under contract that conform to those preferences). Also what happens if you get a property under contract but you then can’t find a buyer for it? Do you add special clauses to your assignment of contract forms to handle this so you are not obligated to buy from the motivated seller yourself? If this happens does it aFfect your reputation as a wholesaler amongst sellers? I really enjoy reading your blog. Thanks, Alan