I have gained many things from your site (knowledge about real estate investing, wisdom on dealing with people, courage to do a deal) that helped me do my first deal. I wanted to say “Thank you.” I am now working on deal number two. I wanted to pass on my success story on deal number one. Here goes:
FINALLY! I can hardly contain my enthusiasm! I finalized the close Wednesday on my FIRST transaction as a real estate investor! To tell you the truth, this was the easiest money I ever made in my life, but boy did I have to work for it!
I put a house under contract on May 15, 2001 for $18,000. It needed nothing done to it as it was in move-in condition. The house appraised for $31,000. I advertised it in the local paper for two weekends and got a good pool of potential buyers, but no one ready to commit.
I also had a sign in the yard “For Sale – Make Offer” and got a call on Memorial Day from a guy who saw my sign that wanted to look at it. After qualifying him on the phone, I ran over to show him the house that evening. He looked, and we signed a contract for $29,000! What a great feeling!
The next couple of weeks took the wind out of my sails, though. He used his own out-of-state credit union. (My mistake for not taking control and guiding him to a mortgage broker I know.) This credit union strung us along for four weeks until finally telling us that they could not finance the property for him since he would be using it as investment property (rental). Was I ticked!
I then learned a valuable lesson on CONTROLLING the transaction and referred him to my friend the originator. They got together and worked out a plan where he would refinance his primary residence to get the funds for the rental. We moved along okay until the funding part for the close.
My attorney/closing agent sets up close for Tuesday, with the anticipation that the deal would be funded Monday afternoon. Got a call on Tuesday morning that they were having a problem getting the funds wired from the lender. We wound up doing a double “dry” close while we waited for the funds to get there on Wednesday. And they did!
I am $10,677.40 happier and on my way in my real estate investing career! I even have deal number two in the works right now where I will stand to make about another $15,000 (cross your fingers for me!).
My simple bit of advice to anyone who reads this and asks, “Can I do it?” JUST DO IT! If I can do it, anyone with any persistence about them at all can do it. But you have to WANT IT.
The morale of the story that I got out of this is: Real estate investing is a lot of hard work, but if you follow the lead of many successful investors who provide advice on this site, it is VERY rewarding. Thanks to all of you who frequent this site and pass along your infinite wisdom on real estate investing. I am indebted to you for your kindness, and you guys are a wonderful resource.
Now, I’ve got deal number two to pull together, and a few bills to pay off with my proceeds! Thanks again to all.