Flip This Wholesaler

Happy Hump Day guys and gals!

I just got back from a 3.8 mile run and feel like a million bucks.  Maybe even two million.

One of my goals for the year is to run 3.5 miles at least 5 days every week.  So far I’m kicking butt, although it was a little challenging getting back on track after the holidays.  It takes some time to get the momentum going and to get over the hump, but once I get passed that, it’s smooooooth sailing.

It’s the same way with real estate- it takes a ton of effort to get some momentum going and to get “in the zone” as I like to call it, but once you get over the hump everything just kind of falls into place.  I was reminded of this last summer when I took some time off to redo my blog and write my eBook.  I remember talking to Steve Cook (my mentor, for those who don’t know) about it, and I remember him warning me that if I took a month or so off from doing deals that it might be more difficult than I thought to get up and running again.  I didn’t necessarily believe him and thought I could just jump back in no problem.  He was right of course, and it ended up taking me a few months to really get back in the swing of things.

Moral of Story: Steve Cook is always right.

Also: Momentum is a very powerful force.  It takes mucho effort to build, but once it’s behind you- look out! The old “pushing a boulder up a hill” analogy sums it up perfectly…

In other news, I’m pleased to announce that I’m well on my way to becoming a famous chef! The spicy shrimp dish that I talked about in my last post actually turned out edible. Tasty, even. I mixed it up with some dirty (hehe) rice, and ended up with something jambalaya-ish. It was delish.

This may not seem like a big deal to most of you, but I’m tickled pink about it. I didn’t even own a spatula until a few weeks ago, if that tells you anything about my prowess in the kitchen. I also did not know how to crush garlic, chop parsley, or separate butter.  Seriously.

I know all of you came to my real estate blog today just dying to know what I had for dinner on Sunday, so I took some pictures for you. Because I aim to please…

As you can see, Home Girl don’t play when it comes to the
crushed red. Also, do you like my new bamboo cooking utensil?

Notice the ginormous pieces of garlic in there.  The recipe said to leave
them behind in the pan, which is just crazy talk.  I love me some garlic!

Dirty rice cooking.  Hehe.

Voila- Chef Steph has spoken!

I suppose I should have taken a final picture with the food all nice and plated and my glass of chardonnay in the background, eh?  I guess I got distracted by my growling stomach and forgot.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now, folks- all this food talk is making me hungry.  Gotta go get some dinner!

Later Alligators.

P.S.
If you’re on my email list and you’ve been getting duplicate emails- sorry about that.  I’m trying to fix it.  Stupid technology.

P.P.S.
I’ve got some new Reader Mail videos coming your way shortly. Keep your eyes peeled…

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.